February 23, 2016

"So why do some girls post sexualized pictures? Why are they complicit in this potentially very self-­undermining aspect of social­media culture?"

"'I think it’s just to get attention,' explains Lily, a 14-year-old in Garden City, N.Y., where I studied a group of girls for the book. 'It’s to get the likes. Everything’s about the likes.'"

So why does Time Magazine plod at such a mindnumbing low level through serious social issues? Why is it complicit in this potentially very self-­undermining aspect of mainstream media? I guess it's just to get attention....

The author informs us that she spent 2½ years doing research that took her to 10 states and that she talked to "more than 200 girls." So she averaged 1 girl per 4 days of research — 20 girls per state — and arrived at the stunning insight that girls post sexy pictures because it gets attention, which they like?

44 comments:

MaxedOutMama said...

This research is so deep, so profound, so paradigm-changing that our limited minds cannot conceive of it?

My limited mind suspects that many social research grants are utterly mispent. We waste a lot of money.

Renee said...

Liked by who?

Any random guy.

Why don't girls care about who likes them?

JB71-AZ said...

Why are they complicit?

Seriously?

It's called 'human nature', and 'the drive to reproduce', aka 'Stupid damn hormones kicking in once puberty is reached and the opposite sex becomes really really desirable instead of really really icky'.

tim in vermont said...

Why don't girls care about who likes them?

Looks are power.

MadisonMan said...

I'm gonna guess the 10 states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Texas, California.

In other words, the author ignored the middle of the country. Probably would have been too inconvenient for her.

Renee said...

Teens have been sexual, it's just we don't get married and have kids as teenagers anymore.

Before social media, we were sexual... But it was more private and also more physical.

We didn't need to look hot all the time for strangers, we just to look good for the guy we wanted to look good for. Women had a lot more power, now everyone is fighting for likes, but it never results in a personal emotionally physical relationship.

Renee said...

Not really, in this situation. The girls are getting 'likes' and sooner then later will be swamped with crotch shots of men.

rhhardin said...

Girls learn to conceal their shallowness around age 30.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

So why do some girls post sexualized pictures? ...It’s to get the likes. Everything’s about the likes.

It's a race to the bottom. And in a race to the bottom, the only winner is Laslo.

Anonymous said...

I guess it's the same reason that women do nude spreads for Hustler..it's for the likes.

tim in vermont said...

Girls learn to conceal their shallowness around age 30

Every girl's job is policewoman of the gene pool. As guys, we call this "being shallow."

SGT Ted said...

The feminist war against biology continues. Why are feminists anti-science? Why do they have such unhealthy attitudes about female sexuality.

And funny that when it's men trying to tamp down rampant female sexuality, it's called "slut shaming" and it's bad.

Curtiss said...

So there's money to be made in publishing statements of the obvious?

tim in vermont said...

. Women had a lot more power,

Social media and visual media in general have created a winner take all environment based on being photogenic. I had a friend in college who was into photography and he took a lot of pictures that didn't strike me as great, but he ran into Jane Fonda at the airport in Buffalo and took her picture and that picture was great. It was amazing really.

Laslo Spatula said...

I sensitively detail the plight of one such young girl, on the cusp of womanhood, dealing with entering a sexualized world, in a series on my blog:'Daddy issues America.

I am Laslo.

n.n said...

Progressive morality continues to create mental cases and victims.

Just do what feels good. It's normal. Let's encourage them.

The amoralists in the pornography and abortion industries appreciate the business.

rehajm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

No wonder Playboy gave up on marketing nude pics of the girl next door.

rehajm said...

Three facts bout the author, from Amazon:

Author of American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers

#1 Best Seller in Social Media Guides

Be the first to review this item

Renee said...

How is it secret, when it's so openly done?

Brando said...

"So there's money to be made in publishing statements of the obvious?"

No kidding. They really needed a study to show that adolescents are slaves to peer pressure and crave attention and validation?

Next they're going to find that they dress the same because they're trying to fit in. World shaking!

madAsHell said...

The school district would remove the pregnant girls from the general high school population, and isolate them in a home. This would prevent the other girls from seeking attention by getting knocked-up.

Bob Boyd said...

Cut from the rough draft by Time editor:

"I think it’s just to get attention,' explains Anthony, a former US Congressman from New York where I studied a therapy group for the book. "It’s to get the likes. Everything’s about the likes."

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Research is an interesting term. I haven't read the linked article. Is the research just the author's work for the article, or for some book, or is this in any way official "research" sponsored by some academic institution?
Do you ever suspect you picked the wrong career from an "effort needed for reward" standpoint?

Paddy O said...

I feel a need to visit 20 different states and talk to 200 different article writers in order to determine why someone would write an article about why girls post provocative pictures. What I will discover will shock you! You'll never guess what happens next.

Or, I can just say people write articles like this to get the likes (or at least the blog posts).

We all want to be a person. Everyone is looking for their way to become one. Being valued for something is what gives us a sense of individual meaning. Though, such meaning is often illusory. Which is why such demands more and more in a never ending quest for being. We think this like will be the one that gives us meaning, this Great person who seems to have full being will give us meaning, this obsession will cause us to discover rest in our self. This comment will add a significant twist to a conversation. Unwilling to admit we're just cogs in a system, anonymous and anonymizing.

So, we're driven.

Renee said...

You know what's bothersome, when middle aged women do it. Usually right when she is letting go/divorcing her relationship.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I thoroughly suspect that I will have reasonably satisfying answers to these sorts of questions once I've figured out why Lady Mary gets to snake Lady Edith -- and everybody else -- and then go on to live happily ever after.

damikesc said...

Because society used to try and control the idiotic desires of the youth. Once that stopped, both sexes became fucking idiots.

I have a now 17 year old niece and she is utterly oblivious to things. She sent nude shots of herself (at age 15) to several people and was MORTIFIED when I mentioned that, odds are, LOTS of other people saw them. Even more mortified when I said if I had any desire to do so --- which I do not --- I could find those pics online most likely.

Also, with feminists shitting on men so much that men just stop caring, women have to do a lot more to attract a "good" guy.

FullMoon said...

Eric the Fruit Bat said... [hush]​[hide comment]

I thoroughly suspect that I will have reasonably satisfying answers to these sorts of questions once I've figured out why Lady Mary gets to snake Lady Edith -- and everybody else -- and then go on to live happily ever after.


Yeah! Me and all the other villains down at the pool hall agree she is a real B.I.T.C.H
and needs a good spanking.

tim in vermont said...

I've figured out why Lady Mary gets to snake Lady Edith -- and everybody else -- and then go on to live happily ever after.

It's like at the end of the Sopranos, when they didn't get killed by a bomb in the restaurant and just enjoyed a good meal. But if Lady Edith doesn't come out on top in the end, or at least happy, that is going to be a pretty dark place for DA to go. Jane Eyre at least got blind Rochester at the end.

tim in vermont said...

Rochester survived the fire. Maybe her old beau and father to Marigold will show up alive, somehow returned from an awful adventure in pre-war Germany.

FullMoon said...


Blogger tim in vermont said...

I've figured out why Lady Mary gets to snake Lady Edith -- and everybody else -- and then go on to live happily ever after.

It's like at the end of the Sopranos, when they didn't get killed by a bomb in the restaurant and just enjoyed a good meal.


Nope, Tony got whacked by the guy sitting at the counter who went into the men's room and came out and killed him.

jr565 said...

One of my cousins is a girl who is in college now. But when she was in highschool her and her friends would post pictures of themselves on Facebook and then all of their girl friends would say "so pretty". It was an attempt to get self validation, and feed their narcisism. And that was the extent of their facebook correspondence. That's probably why girls also post nude photos of themselves. Girls are pretty vain creatures. THey need people to tell them how pretty they are.

jr565 said...

Full Moon wrote:

Nope, Tony got whacked by the guy sitting at the counter who went into the men's room and came out and killed him.

It is left open for debate. but i'm coming around to your view on the interpretation. Just watched the ending again. and every time the door opens they first show tony looking up. THen they show, from his perspective what he sees coming through the door. The last time they just show him looking up, then blackness. Because he never sees what comes through the door. Because he is shot dead. Even if he isn't killed, the show is saying he will always be looking up when the door opens afraid that someone is going to kill him.
However, it could also be viewed as a commentary on us watching a tv show. We have to get off the train and stop viewing their lives even though we want the show to go on and on. But even though their lives continue on, we as audience members are removed from the equation and the screen essentially goes black.

Noton Yalife said...

Must have been a government grant. Although points to the researcher for not going the easy route and linking it to global cooling/warming/change.

Ron Winkleheimer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fred Drinkwater said...

The author spent 2 1/2 years accumulating tax-deductible "expenses" while wandering the country. No more elaborate explanation is required.

Sam L. said...

TIME is not worth my time. Probably, truly, not anyone's.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"So why does Time Magazine plod at such a mindnumbing low level through serious social issues? Why is it complicit in this potentially very self-­undermining aspect of mainstream media? I guess it's just to get attention...."

Because they're lazy liberal half-wits. Duh.

JaimeRoberto said...

Maybe it was just an excuse for the researcher to look at racy pictures of teenage girls.

tim in vermont said...

Nope, Tony got whacked by the guy sitting at the counter who went into the men's room and came out and killed him.

You're probably right, I only watched it once. The morals guys own Hollywood.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

So she averaged 1 girl per 4 days of research — 20 girls per state — and arrived at the stunning insight that girls post sexy pictures because it gets attention, which they like?

ROFLMAO. I've told you a million times - nothing dulls the mind like prudishness.

Skipper said...

This "study" is no doubt representative of 90% of social research. Obvious, dumb, fraudulent, or a simple waste of time.

mikee said...

First, let me ask: Time Magazine is still around? I thought it went the way of Newsweek, long ago.

Second, hoping for something intellectually rigorous from Time has been a waste of reading skills since they began publishing. Remember, they pride themselves on including details like what was served at a State Dinner in the White House, because such trivia allowed them to act superior to daily news. They have nothing in their coverage of any issue other than their own progressive agenda, and have had nothing else since their origin.