We must end gender stereotypesI have heard many times and from many women: "I wish I were a man. Men have it so easy." It's a statement that comes from the fear and anger that comes from many years of oppression and abuse; a statement born from the pressure to meet today's impossible standards of beauty and bodily perfection. Sometimes that seems to be an understandable statement to make. Of course, I found myself craving this very absurdity when the pressures of being a woman seemed to be too much. But as I get older, and hopefully wiser, I am happy to say, and very proud too, that yes! I'm a woman. It is a very exciting time for me as a young woman to watch the changes our world is going through right now. There is so much happening around us that it seems like anything could happen and anything is possible. It's all very scary and exciting at the same time. I'm not exactly sure how or when the women's rights movement began, but I believe we've come a long way and we also have a long way to go before we free ourselves from those gender stereotypes and immense pressures to be "The perfect woman." I know many skeptics will question whether or not that freedom is attainable, but I truly believe that anything is possible right now. I believe in gender equality. I believe in the equality of all people, whether black, white, female or male. Maybe it's easy for me to be so positive and confident among these skeptics because of the family I have. I don't think I was aware of the "roles" that men and women adopt because in my family it seemed like no roles existed. Both of my parents have...half of the card...the value of the true beauty within us that so often goes unnoticed. I believe every woman in America experiences this. There is so little acceptance of ourselves because we end up living our lives to the fantasy expectations of men. Both Alice Walker and Nora Ephron were able to finally transcend their problems, but it took so many years and a lot of tears for them to finally throw up their hands and give up trying to meet all the expectations in the world. . It's sad that a woman has to reach middle age, when the pure beauty of youth is lost forever, before she is finally able to shed all those insecurities that have been imposed on her all her life. It is difficult and I believe that the same effort is needed from both sexes if we want to be able to go beyond this limit. It's time to look within, otherwise we will continue to do without.