Someone remarked to me recently that it is becoming difficult to tell white American girls of a certain age (17-24) apart.  They tend to have beautiful faces, slim arms, perky breasts, little bubble butts and long, glamorous legs.

Has it always been that way? Certainly not.

I can remember when what you were born with  you were stuck with…kinky off-color hair, freckles and moles, hairlips and big noses.  Really beautiful, perfect women were well…rare.  Lots of women were attractive, “pretty”, “cute” and appealing. Few were spectacular beauties.

Then, life changed. Previously people who got facelifts were considered “weird”. They generally went away and stayed a long time and came back looking not like themselves at all. They were whispered about the same way as someone who had cancer.

Whatever size breasts they were blessed or cursed with were theirs for life. It was a time of extraordinary ignorance about a lot of things. No one knew what a calorie was, or what vitamins were.

And oddly enough, with no one obsessing about it, there were very few fat girls. In fact, there were very few fat people of any age. It seems the more you worry about something, the bigger problem it becomes.

Except for professional athletes, no one exercised except a few jocks in school who would jog along streets wearing sweat clothes because to run without sweats made you suspect of something bad.

Then along came body builder and record breaker, Jack LaLanne.  His little daily exercise show proved to people that anyone could look better and feel better if they exercised. He didn’t use equipment; he taught us to use the body alone.  It was later that someone suddenly invented “aroebics” and the new, lucrative health and fitness industry was founded. Gyms sprang up, machines were invented and peddled, people made videos (one primary example was actress Jane Fonda who seemed to have practically invented leg lifts and leg warmers).

Suddenly breast implants became popular although most women would still deny having them.

Everyone knew what vitamins were, what a calorie was and how many you should eat every day.

Hair color was a major breakthrough. In the old days there were two kinds of colors…inky black and Marilyn Monroe platinum blonde. Hair was destroyed with the old processes.  Two process blonde was a  nightmare of purple liquids, burning bleach and lots of time.

But gradually, everything changed. Face lifts became sophisticated and often so good you really couldn’t tell if she “had…or not”. Beauty contestants could suddenly have what they had never been allowed to have before–reconstructive surgery and altered hair color. You no longer knew–was she born beautiful or was she a manufactured product?

Today, you still can’t tell. More and more white American girls opt for long hair (sometimes supplemented by extentions so you cannot even tell is it real or is it purchased).

Of course there is no real harm in all this except finding a unique girl (as in actress who wants to be known for her ability and not her similarity to a lot of other girls) is difficult.

Is it good, or bad?

Being beautiful is good; being something you aren’t isn’t, necessarily.

Little girls, often very little girls, are obsessed with being “perfect” to the extent where personality takes a back seat to appearance. No one cares if she is smart, accomplished or original as long as she is gorgeous.

Is that good? It all depends on what the observer’s idea of great really is. A homely girl stands little chance in our society. She is made fun of at school, ignored by men, unwanted in many quarters and unappreciated in all of them.

Maybe the real test is how shallow is the observer. Rich men often attach themselves to  a beautiful woman as some sort of status symbol…someone to drag out and parade about on social occasions, someone to prove to the world he still “has it”, someone to help him feel as if he isn’t getting older and less desirable.

Too often girls are hired in offices for the impression of perfection they give. Sitting at a desk, they look gorgeous. Can a business be bad with a receptionist who is a knockout? You even see it at small businesses…the local car dealer, the local branch bank. She is something like a bouquet of beautiful flowers welcoming you. Too often, also, these girls are hired with an eye to making them someone to have sex with when business is slow, someone to take on conventions, someone to take to the yearly ski meet or business trip.

Too often men brag about these girls, wink, compare them and use them as objects, not people. There used to be much conversation about the “casting couch” and girls who slept their way into stardom in movies. Was it true? Of course it was true, or not…depending on the girl.

So are we meant to buy every beauty product known to man, starve, stuff ourselves into ungodly uncomfortable garments because they make us look beautiful, sexy, available, exciting to people we often don’t even know?  Should we exercise like hampsters in a wheel, or just relax, and live?

Wives sometimes get jealous because perhaps once they were the “trophy girls” in the front office.

American women have become the majority of job holders and their incomes are rising.  They are assuming power they didn’t have before and probably waking up to the fact that for many over the years, being subservient to men was necessary.

It isn’t anymore.

A woman who is concentrating fully on her job is an awesome power.

Maybe some women executives will start replacing their own secretaries with cute guys in tight pants. Wouldn’t that be a kick?