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Attractive Girls Don't Have It So Easy
By Hank Campbell | May 22nd 2008 12:27 PM | 7 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
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About Hank Campbell

A wise man once said Darwin had the greatest idea anyone ever had. Others may prefer Newton or Archimedes.

Probably no one ever said a website was the greatest idea anyone ever had, but a website... Full Bio

There's victimization and then there's, apparently, indirect victimization. Even the most popular girl in school can be a victim of indirect victimization, according to University of Alberta Educational Psychology PhD student Lindsey Leenaars and colleagues, especially if indirect victimization includes receiving anonymous notes that make fun of them, being socially excluded by some group or having rumors spread about them.

In other words, indirect victimization happens to everyone in high school.

Leenaars took data from questionnaires filled out in 2003 by some 2,300 students (ages 12–18) in Ontario. The anonymous questionnaire included questions about their attractiveness, their sexual activity, their friendships and school social problems.

Leenaars found that females who viewed themselves as attractive had a 35 percent increased chance of considering themselves indirectly victimized.

Males who viewed themselves as attractive felt indirectly victimized by 25 percent less.

It may also be that teenage males are not drama queens the way teenage females are. I saw "Mean Girls." I know what goes on out there.

The researchers say this information could be used to raise awareness among parents, teachers and counselors and could insute that anti-bullying programs include all students, not just those who may be traditionally perceived as victims.

So, ugly girls, try being nicer to those prom queens out there. They have feelings too.

Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Article: Lindsey S. Leenaars, Andrew V. Dane, Zopito A. Marini, 'Evolutionary perspective on indirect victimization in adolescence: the role of attractiveness, dating and sexual behavior', Aggressive Behavior Published Online: 19 Mar 2008 DOI 10.1002/ab.20252

Comments

Becky Jungbauer's picture
I also wonder if attractive girls are more paranoid because of their looks - since more people ostensibly pay them more attention, the numbers of insults, dramas, friendships, what have you also increase. I'll have to ponder that while I hide from the gaggle of admiring colleagues - they should realize that it's not easy being this beautiful!

Becky Jungbauer | 05/22/08 | 14:11 PM
Hank's picture
I think Leenaars is just trying to kiss up to the cool kids in school.


Hank Campbell | 05/22/08 | 15:01 PM
I think that it may perhaps be a good idea for both of you to read the original article published in Aggressive Behavior. It is the goal of the author to conduct scholarly research, which helps us gain a better understanding of this type of aggression. That is, why does it occur, who does it happen to, and what can be done to help eliminate bullying? Perhaps you should focus on that, and not on irrelevant personal attacks of the researcher.

Anonymous (not verified) | 05/22/08 | 17:25 PM
Hank's picture
I would have thought disenfranchisement of the kids on the fringes - the ugly, the uncool, the non-athletic - would be the issue, but now it turns out that the pretty, popular girls can't even let the overweight teens with braces have that persecution to themselves - they have to lay claim to being more picked on also.

And here you come saying we are bullying Leenaars if we don't lockstep with her conclusion. No one can ever win if "you are being mean if you don't agree" is a valid defense.

We can't publish her study here - that would be a violation of Wiley's copyright - but she's welcome to come here and write about it. We've had dozens of scientists written about here do guest columns about their work. We have approximately 10,000X the audience that Aggressive Behavior has so she would be reaching a lot more people.

Hank Campbell | 05/22/08 | 18:17 PM
Of course no one wants to hear this story, i.e. that we should all observe a moment of silence for the poor beautiful girls. Still, whether we agree with her conclusions or not is immaterial. The point is more about properly representing the research (this is scientific blogging, right?) Reread the article; I think Becky was closer to the point – at issue isn’t whether the girls ARE attractive, it’s whether they THINK they’re attractive. Kind of expands the scope a bit, no? Exhibit A would be ~98% of the kids who scrape their way onto American Idol – these kids THINK they have talent… but then again, that’s sort of the point at that age, I think. So, the Leenaars study is of interest, if not concern, if one is a parent – I want my daughter to feel and exhibit confidence (attractiveness, physical or otherwise), without it making her more of a target.

Anonymous (not verified) | 05/22/08 | 21:01 PM
Hank's picture
I think you make the point nicely about the distinction between the objectivity of science and the advocacy of social policy: Those kids show up on American Idol thinking they are good precisely because they never got honest answers - something science avoids. They get introduced to the real world (Simon) in a harsh way all at once, which is a shame. They got too many Paula Abdul's until it really counted.

We are a science site and that's why we don't do what you suggest we do - namely, filter research through what we would like it to accomplish. Instead we take it for what it is. In this case, 'indirect victimization' applies to literally everyone so it can't actually tell us anything - the only way to eliminate it is to eliminate contact with other people.

I'd rather have Simon's opinion than Paula Abdul's. I would want to know how good I am. Leenaars may only want to hear from people who use her research to reaffirm their pet social policies, but saying we're not a science site unless we do that doesn't hold up.

Hank Campbell | 05/22/08 | 21:52 PM
Becky Jungbauer's picture
Just one more thing to blame on our parents - if you're cute, they made you a victim. If you're ugly, well, you're probably already blaming your parents. Oh well - back to the pint of ice cream I'm nursing, which I'm eating to make myself feel better about the stimulation of my vagus nerve indirectly victimizing me by making me feel fat. (Although it is organic soy chocolate ice cream, so at least I feel environmentally friendly.)

Becky Jungbauer | 05/22/08 | 20:14 PM

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