Are American Girls Getting Prettier

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.