Peer pressure, Bear!
OK, we all know I'm overweight. Currently, overweight is NOT 'In'.
If everyone I meet keeps telling me "You're fat!"
and my boyfriend leaves me cause "You're fat!" and the hawker gives
me smaller portions because "You're fat!" and I can't get a decent
dress at the mall and the salesgirls stop short at saying "You're
fat!" to my face, and then when I go on outings, I hear guys
talking amongst themselves and saying stuff like, "Look at that
body!", "I'd love to get close to that chiobu!", etc. (And YES,
forum outings are full of such comments), and if I didn't get
chosen for a job because "You're fat!", don't you think that sooner
or later, it will get to the person? 
Thank goodness my self-worth is kinda forged in steel! I'm unapologetic about who I am. 
BUT, sometimes, when I'm feeling down and
having an 'off' day, or when people are particularly nasty, it does
get to me.
Not everyone has their self-confidence forged in steel though. Lots
of young, impressionable girls go on wacky diets and starvation and
diet pills and what-not in a desperate bid to look good, be part of
the 'in' crowd. It's fantastic to look good, which girl doesn't
love to look good? But when one puts her health in jeopardy just to look
good, it's really sad, don't you think?
So, yes, society does exert pressure on individuals to conform in
certain ways.
That's why I love to visit the US, cause each time I go there, I
feel soooo liberated! Everyone minds their own business, and I'm
not considered 'fat' there! Yippeeeee!! I become a totally different person there - more
confident, more uppity, more extrovert. 
