As a woman, it can be hard to know what advice to follow when all of it is so contradictory. Last week pictures of a woman publicly being forced to remove her burkini in Nice went viral. Women are being told to take off their burkinis and undress on the beach, but at the same time we should keep ourselves covered up, and shouldn’t show too much skin. Meanwhile, men are free to wear whatever they please on France’s beaches.
But what to wear to the beach isn’t the only example of the unreasonable advice women are forced to endure daily. We’re constantly set conflicting expectations on how to look (wear makeup but look natural) or how to behave at work (act like a lady, think like a boss) or in relationships (don’t be a slut but don’t be frigid). These ridiculous expectations are created usually by men, and in many cases by other women too.
These illustrations show just how confusing it is to be a woman in 2016.