Why women lie even to themselves.

• Position: Life in America

Women today constancy are comparing themselves to one another and often beating themselves up when they do not measure up. BettyConfidential.com has released the results of a survey showing that, irrespective of all the educational attainment and economic prosperity women have achieved over the past several decades, they continue to struggle with their identities. Women revealed that they lie about a multitude of things, including their opinions, relationships, accomplishments, and income.

"Women told us that they lie to create the life they aspire to, and to make themselves feel better about their current life," explains Julie Ryan Evans, editor-at-large at BettyConfidential. "They don't feel successful enough or thin enough or happy enough in their relationships, so, by telling people the way they wish it could be, they get to feel that for at least a little while."

Some 55% say they do not consider withholding information a lie. "This was particularly interesting because so many women try to paint this picture of a perfect life, but much of the information they're withholding may be about an entirely different life going on behind closed doors," Evans indicates.

Not surprisingly, weight is listed as the thing women lie most about, but what is revealing is that they do so even on official documents. When asked if their real weight is on their driver's license, 68% confess no. "I lie about my weight out of embarrassment," confirmed one respondent. "I hate my weight and want it to be lower," remarked another. A third declared she lies about her weight "because the number is too shocking even for my ears and I think I can pull off a lower number."

Women...