92% of teenage girls are unhappy with their bodies

[Tyler]

Thank you Tyler.
Now I know what to get my granddaughter for her birthday.

You're so welcome!
Your granddaughter a fan of zombie films, by chance?


j/k

[Azalin]

What's really annoying to me is that there are so many more good looking young girls these days. When I was that age I'm quite sure there were nowhere near so many lookers. I feel cheated somehow.

djm

Yeah, it should be illegal or something. In Montreal there's a high concentration of good looking women and girls, when I take the bus to go to work it just drives me insane. I can't help myself and I have to look but I should really close my eyes and open them only at the end of the trip

[hyldemoer]

Thank you Tyler.
Now I know what to get my granddaughter for her birthday.

You're so welcome!
Your granddaughter a fan of zombie films, by chance?


j/k

No, not yet.

What I learned from my own childhood and from raising her mother and uncle was to be very careful what one encourages in a child.
At some point they just might use rejection of it to express protest of their parent's way of life.

While they were growing up my two kids had a terrible time finding things to deem uncool because I'd carefully chosen to recommend a lot of things that were already on the list of cool by their peer group.

How does a boy become an anarchist when his childhood has been spent being dragged to anarchist picnics populated by mostly "total loosers"?

When my daughter was in highschool and it was hip and cool to wear pentagrams, she'd already spent the bulk of her childhood being dragged to Neopagan festivals by her "goofy" mom.
"Boring!"

I'm just lucky there's some truth to the saying, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree".
Neither of them became Republicans

as far as I know.

[Walden]

I'm just lucky there's some truth to the saying, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree".
Neither of them became Republicans

as far as I know.

I came awfully close to becoming a Republican. Fortunately one isn't allowed to change parties in this state during June, July, or August of even-numbered years, which gave me time to cool off and think a little more clearly.

[susnfx]

I came awfully close to becoming a Republican. Fortunately one isn't allowed to change parties in this state during June, July, or August of even-numbered years, which gave me time to cool off and think a little more clearly.

*smacks Walden with that fish in his avatar

[jim stone]

Yes, it's good to have an opportunity to cool off.
Once I thought I was madly in love and went to
propose, but the lady was out for an hour, I was told.
So I went and ate lunch.
Afterwards I realized I wasn't in love; I
had just been hungry. I ate a hamburger
and it was gone.

I suppose disatisfaction with one's bod is,
and has always been, pretty typical of
adolescence.

[emmline]

It's hard to tell much from that sort of a survey. If asked, sure, a high percentage of teenage girls will express dissatisfaction with some morphological feature or other. I am speaking as a parent of girls who are 16, 17, and 19. OTOH, it is clear that they also realize, at times, that they are hot patooties. I think a healthy adolescent will do a lot of comparing, and some envying and wishing. But there's an underlying healthy attitude in many(not all) of those girls which will win out in the end.

[hyldemoer]

It's hard to tell much from that sort of a survey. If asked, sure, a high percentage of teenage girls will express dissatisfaction with some morphological feature or other. I am speaking as a parent of girls who are 16, 17, and 19. OTOH, it is clear that they also realize, at times, that they are hot patooties. I think a healthy adolescent will do a lot of comparing, and some envying and wishing. But there's an underlying healthy attitude in many(not all) of those girls which will win out in the end.

I think perhaps a lot of people become real good at faking "healthy attitude" in public.

Its rare in Western cultures for men to wear makeup.
Their ability to provide for a family seems to carry more weight than appearances?

My sister-in-law
(12 years younger than my brother/her husband, is the chief bread winner in the family as my brother is an artist, and who for her physical beauty could be on a poster of reasons to visit Ireland)
once confided to me that she thought she was "simply ugly" without make-up on.

Have I mentioned this before?
My husband once asked me why I don't wear make-up. (I think it was shortly after a visit from his mother.)

I asked him what part of my face did he think needed improvement.

He's never brought the subject up again.

[SteveShaw]

I'm at that age at which I can't take my bloody eyes off any female who's under 30, slim, wearing tight jeans and, preferably, has six inches of midriff showing. Especially when I'm looking from behind. This is not a male chauvinist pig thang. This is the pathetic rant of a dirty old man. So my wife says. I'd like to think I was the exception and that I had that certain je ne sais quoi that young women find irresistible. I mean, how can any woman resist this?

[Wanderer]

I'm at that age at which I can't take my bloody eyes off any female who's under 30, slim, wearing tight jeans and, preferably, has six inches of midriff showing. Especially when I'm looking from behind. This is not a male chauvinist pig thang. This is the pathetic rant of a dirty old man.

While we were out getting fast food (at some local non-chain burger joint I don't remember the name of) a few weeks back, I told my Aunt "Well, I guess I'm officially middle aged." She replied "what do you mean?" I said "because every single girl inside that place looks good".

It's like puberty all over again, but worse, because this time around, I know what I'm missing

[chas]

I'm of the opinion that 92% of teenagers of either sex are dissatisfied with 92% of anything you ask them about. I was dissatisfied with my parents (I love them to pieces now), with school (I stayed in school full-time till I was 30), with women (happily married for over a decade, have a daughter whom I love to pieces), with American beer (okay, American beer has changed A LOT), . . .

I was dissatisfied with my appearance, too. Now that I'm middle aged and am shaped much like Steve, albeit with smaller arms and calves, I'm quite content with my appearance. sh*t, I had beautiful curly hair till I was in my late-20's, too; it just straightened out after one haircut. I must admit, I wish it would come back. I was hoping the grey would come in curly, but alas.

Oh, and BTW, the 70's Show episode in which Kelso melted the faces of Eric's GI Joe and Donna's Barbie was on this evening.

[djm]

I asked him what part of my face did he think needed improvement.

That's one of the most intellegent quips I've ever read. I just love it when women get particularly clever.

It's like puberty all over again, but worse, because this time around, I know what I'm missing

...

djm

[chas]

Have I mentioned this before?
My husband once asked me why I don't wear make-up. (I think it was shortly after a visit from his mother.)

I asked him what part of my face did he think needed improvement.

He's never brought the subject up again.

Just the opposite here. I asked my (now) wife why she spent so much time on hair and makeup? She asked didn't I like it? I said sure, but I'd much rather spend an extra hour a day with her. She didn't eliminate the whole ritual, but it's down to maybe 1/4 of what it was, and she's quite relieved.

I personally think a large majority of Western women wear too much makeup and overdress. Gimme someone who looks comfortable -- as though she can blink, smile, walk, and sit down without any untoward effort.

[emmline]

I personally think a large majority of Western women wear too much makeup and overdress. Gimme someone who looks comfortable -- as though she can blink, smile, walk, and sit down without any untoward effort.

My brother, my husband, and I once got into a discussion about whether the bride (a relative) a the wedding we were attending looked pretty. (yeah, yeah, nothing like dissing the bride at her own wedding.)
I defended the bride, on the grounds that I grew up with the girl, and everywhere we went she drew male attention.
My husband posited that she was not pretty because she was too "done up"--hair, makeup, etc.
My brother proposed the "dip test." First, you dip the subject in water to wash off the excess paint and hairspray, and only then can you make a call on whether you think she's pretty.
I know. It was a silly conversation.

Personally, I like the phenomenon in which someone, at first glance, may strike you as non-extraordinary in appearance. Then, as you get to know the person, it begins to dawn on you just how beautiful he/she is.
The opposite effect has been know to occur as well.

[I.D.10-t]

...a discussion about whether the bride (a relative) a the wedding we were attending looked pretty.

... and everywhere we went she drew male attention.

Pretty is not the same thing as attractive. I think that this may be the difference in the two statements.

To whip together a terrible analogy I think that glass figurines are pretty, but do not want to get close to them for fear of breaking them (so slightly repulsive). Broken in leather that is “ugly” but soft to the touch is something that I am drawn towards and find it difficult to resist picking up. I find this to be most true in museums. Some things I stand back and say, that’s pretty, other times the glass case keeps me from getting kicked out.

As for not being happy with one’s body, I don’t think that this is a bad thing. I think it is more the way that you deal with it.

Another bad analogy
Are you satisfied with your income? If not you could do several different things.

You could work hard and improve your worth and perhaps your salary.
You could rob a bank.
You could hang out with people poorer than you and make fun of them.
If you cannot do anything to improve your income, perhaps your expectations need to be adjusted.

I think that it is more what you do about your dissatisfaction that can be a problem. In the article, the girl would eat when sad, (not a healthy outlet) others would starve themselves, (again not the best idea) many companies try to profit off of dissatisfaction by selling self help books, gadgets, etc. but actually have an interest in not solving your problems and at best can change the symptoms of larger problems (not that all are snake oil salesmen). On the other hand some people use this dissatisfaction to work on their posture, grooming, diet and exercise (seemingly positive outlets). (edit)I would like to add, just because you want to improve doesn’t mean that you are comparing your body to others you may just se potential.
As a side note, it is amazing what can be done to the body these days. Leg bones can be broken and set to give more length to make short people taller, skin can be bleached by chemicals or darkened with UV, hair can be turned the colors of the rainbow, wrinkles can be diminished with injections of toxins or surgery, body parts can have their dimensions changed with implants, etc.