Comments on: Does Wearing Makeup Attract Bullies?

By: Bethany

Bethany — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:52:44 +0000

Girls that think they are attractive usually have an attitude to match it. They are used to the attention from boys and can’t understand why other girls would resent them. Not all of them are that way of course. It used to be that those girls picked on the rest of us.

Now girls that used to be teased know how to stand up for themselves and can shove the teasing right back. Then the attractive girls feel victimized and can’t handle the teasing because they were used to being the bullies. What comes around goes around. it doesn’t make it right, but that’s how it is.

On the other hand, those that feel they are attractive can sense the resentment from those that feel they aren’t. Making friends or having attention from boys could be perceived as “are you being my friend because I’m beautiful or because you like me for me?”

By: blah

blah — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:16:49 +0000

The study is based on the perception of bullying by the students themselves. It is possible that girls who think they are attractive also have a higher standard of how they think they should be treated. Therefore, they feel slighted when normal teasing and joking that most people would not regard as bullying are directed towards them.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:11:54 +0000

Not at all surprising, however, who do the girls feel does the bullying and what exactly does bullying mean? Female aggression – passive, non-aggressive for the most part – is most often completely overlooked. Could it be the girls who consider themselves attractive are more concerned about other girls? Even other attractive girls? What research that has been done on female aggression suggests that. However, with that said, males certainly put more sexual pressure on attractive girls but again – what does bullying mean?

By: Janis

Janis — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:59:42 +0000

It’s also important to realize that they simply said “attractivE” and not “wears lots of makeup.” Those two things are not the same.

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:50:55 +0000

In recent years, (since the Columbine High School tragedy),it seems that school personnel have been directing bullying-prevention efforts toward identifying the outcasts, such as Goths, as the victims. The author of this study says that her research indicates that adults should be aware that the pretty popular girls
might also be being harmed by bullying.

As to makeup and bullying, I would think that a girl who uses makeup to look different from the norm, such as Goth-style makeup,could be bullied for it.

Back in my high school years, the seventies, we didn’t wear very much makeup, and a girl who wore lots of makeup could have been stereotyped as a “slut” and bullied for it. She also could have been viewed as someone who was trying to attract boys away from the other girls, or stealing their boyfriend.

I think that there also might have been racist prejudice, in my rural, mostly-white school, associated with wearing lot of makeup, because girls who were hispanic or black tended to wear more makeup. I always thought their makeup usage was normal for their culture, as well as for urban girls.