I am somebody that has a lot of experience teaching new archers, and there is a difference between how women hold a bow and how a man does. Women's arms hyper-extend when holding a bow out and this causes the elbow to come in and the forearm is in a place that can get bit by the string. As the previous poster stated, you should NEVER lock your elbow when drawing the bow and this is for two reasons. 1. is that you risk striking your fore-arm and 2. and even more important, having a loose elbow will help absorb some of the shock of the string so you don't throw the arrow off target (almost like a natural stabilizer).
Everything should feel loose and fluid.
One way to make sure you have your arm in the right place is to make the center knuckle of your index finger and the bottom knuckle of your thumb of your bow hand line up on a line with your target (this also helps in aiming and forces you to have a soft elbow and not hyper-extend). Archery is a great sport that is fun for all, but if you keep hurting yourself, it's not so fun anymore. I want you to enjoy it and have fun. Good liuck.