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.

I bought one today that cost me £1.10.

In 1976 my Saturday job paid me £3 for the whole day. We were very badly paid because the job was cash in hand and we were 14. However, that gives you an idea of relative values.

You dont have to like or respect anyone do you?

Perhaps someone is unlikable or they do or say things that you dont respect

In any case I didnt get from the OP that she doesnt like or respect the person, I didnt get from the OP that she does like or respect the person, she hasnt indicated either way and I suspect its somewhat irrelevant to her research.

second thoughts, at that price i might!

my mother and MIL were (and probably still are) obsessed with weight and fatness. But I don't think attitudes have changed much have they? Although there is the body-positivity movement now I suppose, but that seems to me just to justify overweightness and still seems to retain a focus on weight and size. And now we can add the relentless obsession with looking young, which didn't seem to exist.

I was young in the 90s and remember trying Atkins, the India Knight diet (can't remember what that was called) , the South beach diet, and the chardonnay and crisp diet. (The latter was quite effective actually).

Now it's weigh loss jabs. There's still an obsession with weight and size.

While it is not great there was such N obsession in the body at least being fat and eating junk was not considered normal.
now I see mums going to pick up their kids at nursery or primary schools with crisps and really really unhealthy snacks.
it would be nice if the discourse had changed from being obsessed with being thin to learn to eat healthy.

That reasoning wouldn't pass muster at my university for ethical clearance.

Hush. You are not allowed to mention research ethics on this thread. It gets reported and deleted.

even though sharing primary data in ways not declared in the application for ethical approval may go against the agreed terms

The OP isn't obliged to tell us the terms of her clearance.

As an ethics reviewer, I would treat this as just another form of publication.

Ethical standards also govern how we encourage emerging scholars, including in online spaces.

Online spaces can be valid for research and dissemination. As long as it's dealt with transparently, responsibly and fairly and it has been academically declared. I have asked for my most recent post to be deleted as clearly, for some reason, it's not allowed to ask questions about the ethics of sharing primary data in on mn chat. I will instead unfollow the thread and focus on a rewarding activity. Thanks.

Absolutely. It's basic stuff for anyone involved with academic research even at undergraduate dissertation level if using primary data. Much care is given to ensuring that all research is ethical. Thankfully so.

Unfortunately, people are not, @BeckyAMumsnet .

Compassion is important in qualitative social research, where researchers try to understand people's real-life experiences. It helps handle sensitive information with care and respect, and stay aware of own biases.

It’s a fascinating topic so wishing OP the best of luck with the dissertation.

Back to my autumn crochet project.

As an aside. Did you know a research paper has just recently been published using data from mumsnet? Fully ethically cleared. All anonymised. really interesting. Stumbled on it earlier.

https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-025-08035-8

Just incase anyone was worried about anonymity. This is the approval; The study received full ethical approval from the Newcastle University Faculty of Medical Sciences Research Ethics Committee (Ref: 14437/2020) and a full risk assessment was conducted prior to undertaking the project. All usernames and any identifiable data were removed to protect the privacy of the individuals posting on the forum during data analysis. While the forum is in the public domain and is publicly accessible, we paraphrased illustrative quotations to minimise the risk of the individual users being identified. Obtaining consent of forum users was not deemed necessary by the Newcastle University Faculty of Medical Sciences Research Ethics Committee as this research involved publicly available online data.

Interesting. I'm not using data from Mumsnet in my research but thanks for this.

So @NorthernGirl1975 as you’re paraphrasing and not quoting and you haven’t said whose diary it is..just a woman born in 1975, you’ll be fine, strictly,‘ethically’. But it might be a bit frowned upon (as you can see) as commenting on it publicly online as part of a discussion is not really what you’re meant to do with information that you’ve been given for a study. Im on your side btw, but can see why you’ve ruffled some (academic) feathers. Good luck with the PhD ❤️

We didnt even have channel 4 until the end of 1982.

I don't see how it's depressing? Its one teenagers diary, a girl who was weight obsessed. I can't believe you think everyone had the same personality, thoughts and ambitions in 1975 based on one source??

Loads of people on this thread have confirmed this though.

True @TheBroonOneAndTheWhiteOne but OP didn't know that when they posted I would hope someone doing research would be a bit more open minded and not make assumptions. Calling it depressing and a 'shocker' is a bit dramatic. An academic should be more mature. My teenage diary would probably be about my constant desire to binge eat and stress over friendship groups, my sisters would probably be about her obsession with high grades. Neither reflect anything other than the brief phases we were going through at that time. Society can follow trends and patterns but there will always be people obsessed with their looks and people who are not.

What's that phrase we used to say then? Oh yes "you could fall out by yourself, in a phone box". Fortunately we're all grown up and no longer need to squabble over petty differences like teens.

Agree it's only one young persons view of the world/her world in the mid 70s

Does that surprise you? MN is nortoriously weight/diet/appearance obsessed and a thread like this will likely be more engaging for the posters most pre-occupied with those matters?

The discussion on bar etiquette was delightful - and really interesting