Be careful what you wish for...

By Year 10, 28% of girls are unhappy about their appearance, says a report by the Children's Society.  This is a shock headline that makes every parent quiver with anxiety and want to rush home and reinforce their children's beauty to them.  However if we look at it in isolation, away from the media stories about child anorexia etc, what are we actually saying?  I do not think this is much of a change from what has always been the case.  I find it difficult to think of anyone of my friends when we were in our early teens that would have described themselves as happy with the way they looked.  Anxiety about appearance is a hallmark of adolescence.  Trapped in that hinterland between growth spurts, hormonal changes and in a behavioural wilderness of wanting to sob like a child and also be treated as an adult, what self-respecting teenager would be happy with the way they looked?    What I found more worrying was a Girl Guilde's report that reported 46% of girls would consider cosmetic surgery.  Mild discontent with one's physical appearance is normal, but for an entire industry to be built around the immediate and irreversible "correction" of that discontent is truly horrifying.  A friend in the States tells me that one of the most popular graduation presents for girls leaving High School is a 'boob job'.