1975 diary shocker

[NorthernGirl1975]

As part of my PhD I'm looking at primary sources. I'm currently reading a diary from 50 years ago. The writer is obsessed with how she looks, what she eats and weighs and whether or not she's pretty.

There are lots of references to getting male attention. She goes to a summer gala with her friend and talks about the ice cream man being fit.

Then says she and the friend were chatted up on the bus and "Wolf whistled by two guys so that's not bad to say I'm a stone overweight". Earlier she's stated she weighs eight stone three. Says she's joining weight watchers as no guy would want to be seen around with a fat ugly girlfriend. Some guy who looks like Steve Harley keeps staring at her.

She went to buy a dress she liked but there was only one and it was a size 14 and too big. That's a 10 today isn't it? Christ knows what size she wanted to be. She's written measurements down as "35-25-35" and is obsessed with looking like one of Pam's People.

This is so depressing.

Irrelevant to thread I know but how could anyone ruin port with lemonade ? 🥴

It goes back further than 50 years. Some of the very old "classic" novels going back to the 18th and 19th centuries have female characters obsessed about their image, attracting male attention, etc., suicidal thoughts due to "not being as pretty as xyz" etc.

The big question to ask is why things haven't really improved over the past 50 years when we've had so much information/coverage of the issues, sex discrimination acts, body positive movements, women in "high" places and top jobs, etc, sexual liberation/freedom. Yet, so many are still seemingly obsessed with getting a bloke!

The other thing about 1975 is nobody had a gender identity.

I longed to be a size 12 in my teens (90s), I was a size 18. I now weigh more than I did then - nearly a stone more - and can comfortably fit into a 12 from most places. I’m more concerned about being an unhealthy weight than attractiveness now though

If I'd kept a diary 50 years ago I'd think you were reading it.
Surely adolescent girls always have, and always will obsess about their looks, weight, and boys? I soon grew out of it, as most healthy women do.

I just wrote what I remembered, its the truth and I’m sorry if it wasn’t clear that I accept that the incidents described were not completely universal.

I’m sure pulling my post apart like that (twice) and making assumptions about what my intentions in writing it may or may not have been made you feel superior to me though, so I’ll expect you to carry on critiicising me for this post as well.

I recall Ayds clearly and, as far as I know, utterly useless, just tasted like fudge. By the 80s, sales must have dropped off. The makers reformulated them and had a big re-launch. Unfortunately, this coincided with notification of a new and terrifying fatal illness with an unknown cause. Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome - AIDS as we came to know it at the time. There was a lot of panic about AIDS, later found to be caused by HIV. The relaunched AYDS product vanished.

On the "fit" debate, my grandma used the word to describe someone being cheeky and forward.

No.

That's really not what I'm doing.

I joined Weightwatchers in about 1985 aged 21. My target weight was 7st 12”. I am 5’ 4”. I reached it and maintained it long enough to get a lifelong membership card.

What I find so depressing about your generation OP is the relentless vanity/insecurity/self-obsession manifest by selfies. Women pout, posing, and performing for a virtual audience of strangers. Filters on smartphones to alter their appearance.

Unpack that for me.
Why do these empty people consider themselves the star of their own show? Have they heard the expression " who's looking at you anyway?"

The patriarchy rules. Women live in men's gaze. Some choose to. Others say fuck that shit.

I don’t think things have changed. People like to think we’ve moved on but if anyone who is overweight was given a magic pill to be slim, they’d all take it. See WLI. If WLI were free and you didn’t need to be prescribed them I would bet 99% of women would be on them. We all want to be slim whether we admit that out loud or not

I'll be looking at that but it's not something I do myself.

Pan's people.

Pan (god) - Wikipedia https://share.google/OcFA7lycxmCUmhwlq

Presumably referring to the music rather than the wild sex (or was it?).

I can remember buying my own drinks in the 70s too but an ex colleague of mine had to get her dad to act as guarantor for here to get a mortgage in 1976.

‘We’ve lost sight of what a healthy weight looks like’ posters completely ignoring the posters talking about incredibly poor diets/ eating disorders that were clearly common and often celebrated in previous decades.

I was a teenager in the 90s and I was on a diet or a binge from 12 and I was terrified of being left on the shelf. I will give up on the human race if my dd wastes her youth on this absolute bullshit, it needs to stop.

I feel like many posts on this thread see it as normal or maybe to be celebrated that so many generations of women use up their precious energy on being properly (not vanity sized) thin.

NannyOgg Twiggy went to the same school as me. I'm happy to confirm she was the thinnest person I have ever seen, before or since. She looked as fragile as a piece of china but, oddly, didn't look starved and gaunt.

My mum was 16 in 1970, when she met my dad.
She just said, the other day, that she hated her looks even as a child. Legs too skinny, hair not thick enough, not pretty etc… She was actually stunning! Like, really.

No make-up on her wedding day. Best boobs in town. Made for a mini dress & knee-boots. Didn’t have mirrors in her house, growing up, I was surprised to hear that she felt that way. But she wanted to be Agnetha from ABBA.

In 1977 and in my early twenties I measured 34" 24" 34" and considered myself to be overweight to the extent that I would sometimes reduce my calorie intake to 1,000 a day. I used a little notebook and a caloriue count guide and resolve to "be good" but hunger would often win out. I was a very pretty (and often described as beautiful) girl who was both vain and terrified of getting older as I thoght my looks were the only currency and power I had. I don't think things have changed much, we just have more ways of being made to feel inadequate about our appearances and to fear ageing. God only knows how I would have coped with Instagram and TilTok, I managed to wallow in self-hatred simply by comparing myself with the models in fashion magazines. To be constantly bombarded by filtered videos of celebs and influencers must be very difficult

I have kept a few of my favourite clothes from the mid 1970s when I was 16/17. They are labelled size 12 but are much smaller than a modern size 12 even accounting for brand differences. A size 12 from most shops would fit me now. These clothes are several inches too small.

How extraordinary, I'm 11st 6lb, 5'6" and need a 14.

I guess women have always been vain, it's just never been so socially acceptable to openly demonstrate it. I remember a close friend who used to look at herself in every mirror she passed. If we were out shopping together she would catch a little glance at herself. I never said anything.

@Rightandwrong How can you say that nothing has changed?

1. The writer is obsessed with how much she weighs. Today there is a "body positivity" movement that praises people who are overweight.
2. The writer is obsessed with whether she is pretty. Nowadays, I think women are overwhelmingly clear that they do not care how men see them.
3. The writer makes a lot of references to "getting male attention," but nowadays, women dislike "male attention" and try to avoid it.
4. The writer seems to not be bothered by the fact that two men wolf whistled at her, whereas nowadays, wolf whistling would cause distress for women.
5. The writer joined weightwatchers so her boyfriend would not be seen with a fat girlfriend, whereas nowadays, women would not want to lose weight just to please a boyfriend.

... So when you said that nothing has changed, did you mean to say that everything has changed?

I used to do that as a late teen but not through self congratulatory vanity, more did I pass muster & not look too hideous that day.