What type of societal pressure do you feel as a woman?
August 1, 2025
From family, friends, society as a whole.
36 comments
To look good (meaning young) and be pleasant (meaning non assertive)
That I MUST be very close to my family. Everyone else seems to have great relationships with their family (parents, siblings, cousins, grandparents). Am I jealous?š YES, GOOD JEALOUS. I can’t bring myself to like my family, I tried, even felt broken about it BUT I know I’ll love the one I choose, it will be genuine!šš»
children…
[removed]
Settling down
To have my whole life āfigured outā by a certain age: career, marriage, kids. Like thereās a deadline or something
getting married and having children. seeing that i am in a couple, they expect it even more and i am done with their shitty and useless remarks.
a few days ago it was my birthday and some close family member preceded to wish me hbd and then asked ‘so what did your bf gave you as a present? the ring?’. just stfu
To never be sexual. The shame that was inflicted on me as a teen and the pressure to never get pregnant has suffocated me as an adult. Iāve been in therapy for 8 years because of it and I will still never tell my family if I have kids.
The pressure to have everything figured out by a certain age.. career, relationship, kids, perfect body. Itās exhausting.
None. Society can put any pressure about me having a vagina straight up its ass, I consider myself lucky and self-aware enough to don’t feel discouraged, pressured or stressed about whatever the shit they want us to feel and believe.
I had my troubles when I was younger accepting some type of comments and non required advices, but I would define those just a minor inconvenient. As a teenager I didn’t fall for it either, and here I am, with zero fucks to give about this stuff š
When you get: breed. Breed, breed, breed. You’re here to breed.
Now on late 40s: you don’t exist because you’re no longer breedable. But if you stand up for yourself or demand to be treated respectfully, you’re a Karen.
Can’t win.
Oh. And that as a woman you MUST have a close group of girl friends and a huge support network. If you don’t, there must be something wrong with you.Ā
the list is endless
To be skinny.Ā
To be timid, submissive, pleasant and “in my place”. And to have children.
Except I’m 37 and stopped caring years ago lol
none. I do what I want!
To be more aggressive. I am kind of feminine and submissive and it seems like to get through the hassles of the world you need to be more assertive. I don’t enjoy that at all. I often get by with some charm. But usually I just have a male family member with me for things where I know I might get some static.
Have a kid in the normal way … Have sex, get pregnant …
I wanna be rich and pay a surrogate to birth my baby … I am very much afraid of the body changes that happen to women due to carrying pregnancy. In addition, the hormonal changes that make you a totally different human due to pregnancy.
Make children
Smile
Look pretty
Cure asexuality if you ve been in relationship for over 3 months
Make children
Handle everything paper work and mental load
Make children
Put in twice the work a man has to to be acknowledged
Make children
Dont get SA, why would we teach the boys not to SA if we can be taught not to be SA ?
Also have I mentionned make children ?
To keep it all together and not complain
None
To be thin
None. I’ve never given a single fuck what anyone has ever wanted me or expected me to do. My life is mine, I’ll live it however the fuck I want to.
At first it was to have kids when I was very career focused and open about not wanting any. (I had an oops) Now that Iām pregnant and open about wanting to go back to work I get comments basically suggesting I stay home or that I wonāt want to once sheās here. Probably wonāt want to but tbh Iām not financially stable enough to stay home and I selfishly like having the extra money
I cant be affected by anyone of them. I do what I want
None from society, frankly. I am lucky. A lot of it is personality- I was born to instinctively not notice if someone is treating me differently because I am a woman. I also naturally do not give a fuck about other peopleās opinions, unless those opinions are about things I value. I feel societal pressure about some things, but not because I am a woman.
To be “strong” in the way that is just toxic masculinity repackaged for women. To be ambitious, tough and emotionally detached.
And I know there is no winning in this for us women, no matter how we are. I’m traditionally feminine and I get pressured to not be that, while my friends and sister get pressured to be more feminine. It feels like we are told to carve pieces of ourselves off, until we all are this grey mass of “not too much”. I’m lucky to have amazing friends and loving family that accepts me as how I am, but pressure and comments from other people still hurts.
To be hot, to be thin, to be sociable, to be comfortable with hugging, to be small, to be bad at athletics, to be good with makeup, to have fashion sense, to be passionate and knowledgeable about beauty, to be a caregiver, to be a good cook, to be thankful not angry. To be the support, to be the planner.
Can cook, good at house chores, high intellectual level, can control our hormonal imbalances and still be pretty and fashionable.
I feel all of them. However, I resist most of them
to be pretty
Beauty is basically what determines your value as a woman, unfortunately
To never make any sort of compromises for a (male) partner, and never forgive them for anything. If I do, I must not respect myself.
Mostly not making waves. Like I’m not supposed to ask for more money or a promotion despite being the most sought after member of my otherwise all male team to do work for higher ups.
Also – having children or at least liking them/being good with them. Hard pass on that.
[removed]
There are so many pressures on women, I personally am at an age and space in my life where I no longer feel pressured to conform. I have always rebelled against societal pressures, but now in my 40ās I feel confident doing so, without guilt, shame or insecurity.
Some of the pressures I have felt in my younger years include:
Having babies
Looking young and pretty
Being kind and not outspoken
Dressing a certain way or not dressing a certain way
Having a certain body type
Being a perfect mother and doing the majority of the child raising
Taking care of a man (ew)
Marriage – I personally am not interested in marriage, or even a relationship for many valid reasons. Whenever I express this people say ādonāt worry youāll meet your soul mate one dayā. Not sure why people canāt accept that some of us love riding solo. I imagine women who donāt want kids also get this sort of pushback. Marriage and children isnāt everyoneās goal in life
To be pretty all the time, but also for the standard of pretty to be higher. Genuinely jealous of men that get to wake up, wash their face, brush their teeth, and walk out the door. With my curly hair? I could never
36 comments
To look good (meaning young) and be pleasant (meaning non assertive)
That I MUST be very close to my family. Everyone else seems to have great relationships with their family (parents, siblings, cousins, grandparents). Am I jealous?š YES, GOOD JEALOUS. I can’t bring myself to like my family, I tried, even felt broken about it BUT I know I’ll love the one I choose, it will be genuine!šš»
children…
[removed]
Settling down
To have my whole life āfigured outā by a certain age: career, marriage, kids. Like thereās a deadline or something
getting married and having children. seeing that i am in a couple, they expect it even more and i am done with their shitty and useless remarks.
a few days ago it was my birthday and some close family member preceded to wish me hbd and then asked ‘so what did your bf gave you as a present? the ring?’. just stfu
To never be sexual. The shame that was inflicted on me as a teen and the pressure to never get pregnant has suffocated me as an adult. Iāve been in therapy for 8 years because of it and I will still never tell my family if I have kids.
The pressure to have everything figured out by a certain age.. career, relationship, kids, perfect body. Itās exhausting.
None. Society can put any pressure about me having a vagina straight up its ass, I consider myself lucky and self-aware enough to don’t feel discouraged, pressured or stressed about whatever the shit they want us to feel and believe.
I had my troubles when I was younger accepting some type of comments and non required advices, but I would define those just a minor inconvenient. As a teenager I didn’t fall for it either, and here I am, with zero fucks to give about this stuff š
When you get: breed. Breed, breed, breed. You’re here to breed.
Now on late 40s: you don’t exist because you’re no longer breedable. But if you stand up for yourself or demand to be treated respectfully, you’re a Karen.
Can’t win.
Oh. And that as a woman you MUST have a close group of girl friends and a huge support network. If you don’t, there must be something wrong with you.Ā
the list is endless
To be skinny.Ā
To be timid, submissive, pleasant and “in my place”. And to have children.
Except I’m 37 and stopped caring years ago lol
none. I do what I want!
To be more aggressive. I am kind of feminine and submissive and it seems like to get through the hassles of the world you need to be more assertive. I don’t enjoy that at all. I often get by with some charm. But usually I just have a male family member with me for things where I know I might get some static.
Have a kid in the normal way … Have sex, get pregnant …
I wanna be rich and pay a surrogate to birth my baby … I am very much afraid of the body changes that happen to women due to carrying pregnancy. In addition, the hormonal changes that make you a totally different human due to pregnancy.
Make children
Smile
Look pretty
Cure asexuality if you ve been in relationship for over 3 months
Make children
Handle everything paper work and mental load
Make children
Put in twice the work a man has to to be acknowledged
Make children
Dont get SA, why would we teach the boys not to SA if we can be taught not to be SA ?
Also have I mentionned make children ?
To keep it all together and not complain
None
To be thin
None. I’ve never given a single fuck what anyone has ever wanted me or expected me to do. My life is mine, I’ll live it however the fuck I want to.
At first it was to have kids when I was very career focused and open about not wanting any. (I had an oops) Now that Iām pregnant and open about wanting to go back to work I get comments basically suggesting I stay home or that I wonāt want to once sheās here. Probably wonāt want to but tbh Iām not financially stable enough to stay home and I selfishly like having the extra money
I cant be affected by anyone of them. I do what I want
None from society, frankly. I am lucky. A lot of it is personality- I was born to instinctively not notice if someone is treating me differently because I am a woman. I also naturally do not give a fuck about other peopleās opinions, unless those opinions are about things I value. I feel societal pressure about some things, but not because I am a woman.
To be “strong” in the way that is just toxic masculinity repackaged for women. To be ambitious, tough and emotionally detached.
And I know there is no winning in this for us women, no matter how we are. I’m traditionally feminine and I get pressured to not be that, while my friends and sister get pressured to be more feminine. It feels like we are told to carve pieces of ourselves off, until we all are this grey mass of “not too much”. I’m lucky to have amazing friends and loving family that accepts me as how I am, but pressure and comments from other people still hurts.
To be hot, to be thin, to be sociable, to be comfortable with hugging, to be small, to be bad at athletics, to be good with makeup, to have fashion sense, to be passionate and knowledgeable about beauty, to be a caregiver, to be a good cook, to be thankful not angry. To be the support, to be the planner.
Can cook, good at house chores, high intellectual level, can control our hormonal imbalances and still be pretty and fashionable.
I feel all of them. However, I resist most of them
to be pretty
Beauty is basically what determines your value as a woman, unfortunately
To never make any sort of compromises for a (male) partner, and never forgive them for anything. If I do, I must not respect myself.
Mostly not making waves. Like I’m not supposed to ask for more money or a promotion despite being the most sought after member of my otherwise all male team to do work for higher ups.
Also – having children or at least liking them/being good with them. Hard pass on that.
[removed]
There are so many pressures on women, I personally am at an age and space in my life where I no longer feel pressured to conform. I have always rebelled against societal pressures, but now in my 40ās I feel confident doing so, without guilt, shame or insecurity.
Some of the pressures I have felt in my younger years include:
Having babies
Looking young and pretty
Being kind and not outspoken
Dressing a certain way or not dressing a certain way
Having a certain body type
Being a perfect mother and doing the majority of the child raising
Taking care of a man (ew)
Marriage – I personally am not interested in marriage, or even a relationship for many valid reasons. Whenever I express this people say ādonāt worry youāll meet your soul mate one dayā. Not sure why people canāt accept that some of us love riding solo. I imagine women who donāt want kids also get this sort of pushback. Marriage and children isnāt everyoneās goal in life
To be pretty all the time, but also for the standard of pretty to be higher. Genuinely jealous of men that get to wake up, wash their face, brush their teeth, and walk out the door. With my curly hair? I could never