# Do Women Go Through a "Cute & Little" Phase? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 8, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558 "2016-02-08T21:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/101 "2016-02-11T15:44:28Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Then why is there such thing as MILF porn? Serious question. For the same reason there is foot porn, getting kicked in the balls porn, girls popping balloons porn and even people getting shit on porn: it’s a fetish. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/102 "2016-02-11T18:33:58Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > For the same reason there is foot porn, getting kicked in the balls porn, girls popping balloons porn and even people getting shit on porn: it’s a fetish. So a 50 year old guy interested in women around his own age has a fetish? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/103 "2016-02-11T19:03:58Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > So a 50 year old guy interested in women around his own age has a fetish? :dubious: Well, obviously, because you’d have to have major issues to find a woman older than 28 attractive. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/104 "2016-02-11T19:47:56Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > No, no, no. Success is not a pretty face. Every door is NOT open to them. > > Real success is hard, really fucking hard. > > No matter how pretty you are, or how many opportunities. > > Real success is hard. That’s why very few people accomplish it. Sure, but having more opportunities never hurts. And **Damuri** _is_ talking there about women who “are good at something.” ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/105 "2016-02-11T20:38:00Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > Well, obviously, because you’d have to have major issues to find a woman older than 28 attractive. Duh. Everything is a fetish these days. If you think a younger women is attractive, you have [a young girl fetish](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19086546&postcount=26). If you think a more mature woman is attractive you have [an older woman fetish.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19086546&postcount=26) And if you think your wife looks pretty after she made herself up and put on a nice dress for the Saturday party, then you have a wife-fetish. And lets not at all get into what you are if you think your 7yo daughter looks cute in her Hello Kitty dress and pigtails. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/106 "2016-02-11T20:45:35Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Sure, but having more opportunities never hurts. And **Damuri** _is_ talking there about women who “are good at something.” I think a girl being very pretty will close more doors for her than it’ll open. Other girls will be jealous and resent her. Some guys will give her attention for all the wrong reasons, other guys will be afraid of her. Her accomplishments will always be followed by slander and gossip: did she have her male admires do her work, did she sleep her way up the ladder. I’ve seen beautiful girls who were interested in chemistry and physics being directed into modelling. I worked with a really pretty girl once, she was quite good at programming, but ended up being given a position in the reception. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/107 "2016-02-11T21:39:33Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > Enlighten me. “And when they lose their looks and they get thrown into general population with the rest of us, a lot of them get bitter and accuse young hot women of being cute&little.” “For women, you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you’re frumpy, you lose, if you are attractive you are “cute&little”” “But that’s not what I am talking about. I am talking about older women implying that younger women are just “cute&little” and that is a shitty thing for them to do.” I am criticizing women who point at younger women’s support of Bernie Sanders and belittle them (and their political choices) for being cute&little > [@fisha](#): > > No, no, no. Success is not a pretty face. Every door is NOT open to them. > > Real success is hard, really fucking hard. > > No matter how pretty you are, or how many opportunities. > > Real success is hard. That’s why very few people accomplish it. Who said anything about looks guaranteeing success? And to the extent I did, I never said it was necessary or sufficient for success. My main point was that some older women are being really shitty to younger women and to all women in general when they make comments like that. If I am wrong about the notion that attractive women getting preferential treatment (yes, mostly from men but half of us humans are men), then I apologize. I don’t have a study to back me up. It is based entirely on anecdotal evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/108 "2016-02-11T21:41:12Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > I think it would be easier to find a leprechaun than one of these magical nymphs whose very presence causes everyone around her to go apeshit and ignore their own responsibilities (what is this, a Bernardo Bertolucci film?) And even if you did find that rare person, they would not be in your workplace - they would be surrounded by their own kind in a performing arts college or something. > > Any “younger women” I’ve worked with were basically a random bunch of individuals like anyone else. Some were great, a few got fired, most were in between somewhere. I don’t recall any of them getting by purely on personal magnetism or whatever. Where do you get the notion that anyone thinks that these women are getting by purely on their looks? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/109 "2016-02-11T21:51:04Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > I think a girl being very pretty will close more doors for her than it’ll open. Other girls will be jealous and resent her. Some guys will give her attention for all the wrong reasons, other guys will be afraid of her. Her accomplishments will always be followed by slander and gossip: did she have her male admires do her work, did she sleep her way up the ladder. > > I’ve seen beautiful girls who were interested in chemistry and physics being directed into modelling. I worked with a really pretty girl once, she was quite good at programming, but ended up being given a position in the reception. I guess I am in a different environment. The women that I work with are all academically successful and no one thinks they slept their way into law school. Noone puts them in reception. They are taken along when we pitch clients as an example of the sort of people that might be working on their deal. They have more exit opportunities into the business setting that others. They are expected to work hard but their hard work gets noticed more frequently than most. No one wants to carry professional dead weight but I don’t think being attractive hurts. But my main point is that those women that called the Bernie supporters cute&little (or the ones that imply that the girls are only going there because the boys are going there) are being dicks and so I implied that they were jealous. I have no real evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) that formerly attractive older women are actually jealous of currently attractive younger women) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/110 "2016-02-11T22:29:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Then why is there such thing as MILF porn? Serious question. Well… sometimes fantasy is more interesting if you think, hypothetically, you might have a real world shot. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/111 "2016-02-14T22:12:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It doesn’t sound like a great argument to me no matter what it’s supposed to convey. If I wanted to get young women to vote for a particular candidate I’d be telling them about how their future career prospects are better than ever and how important their decisions now are instead of telling them they’re wasting their time and being foolish. > > In addition, on this topic, and the ‘race’ issue, I’m a little tired of the implication that Bernie is some kind of male chauvinist racist pig. The Hillary team seems to be resorting to their general election tactics against a Republican candidate. Seems to me Hillary doesn’t think much of the party she wants to represent. The elites of both parties think so little of the general electorate, it’s unsurprising they’re surprised they’re not getting their votes. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/112 "2016-02-14T22:44:34Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Unfortunately for HRC, electability isn’t just about left and right. It’s also about, for example, whether voters trust your judgment. > > I don’t know whether it’s unfortunate for her campaign that all these old Second Wave feminists are coming out and saying silly things, or good that we’re getting that out of the way now. But Bill’s former Secretary of State saying that one must vote for Hillary because of her sex does not make anybody in that camp look smart. :dubious: > > **🆒 As a strong Sanders leaner, I would be pretty happy to see HRC win nomination by 55%-45%, with the Democratic Party on notice that they need populists and (yes) socialists–not just Wall Street money, Boomer professionals, and little old ladies–to stay viable.** > > Or, you know, there’s still some possibility that Bernie will win and the game become finding a way to pass something he can agree with without the party joining Republicans to impeach him. That’s not meant to be cautionary–it might actually get us some good progressive legislation! **[Bolding mine.]** What’s really sad about the Democratic Party is they’re not winning the working class vote. It’s an epic failure of vision & leadership. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/113 "2016-02-15T14:20:38Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > Do young women go through a “cute and little” stage? I was cute as a young woman, but not little. I’m also more educated that my colleagues at the job I held in that time, and was perceived as a “threat” to every damn woman I worked with, so no. I did not get a lot of benefit from being “cute and little” since most of the employees were bitter female trolls. There _are_ a lot of women who think that they don’t need feminism any more, but that doesn’t have anything to do with choosing Bernie Sanders over Clinton. If anything, Sanders supports the kinds of social programs and progressive ideals that benefit women. So Ross’s comments are an ideological colander. > [@Skammer](#): > > I’m really sick of the trope that women who favor Sanders over Clinton are somehow misguided, naïve, or insufficiently feminist. It’s actually a form a misogyny to assume that women who support Sanders aren’t doing so for legitimate, thoughtful reasons or that women ought to support Clinton because she has a vagina. This. Saying you must vote for a woman is as bad as saying you cannot vote for a woman. I’m voting for the _person_ who I think has our best interests at heart, and that is not Clinton. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Hillary claimed, afterwards, that it was said light-heartedly. And indeed, if you watch the video, everyone chuckled afterwards. But… I don’t get it. Is this some sort of inside joke that “womyn” just get but that men don’t? I didn’t get the “joke” either. Perhaps it’s because I’ve never felt the need to spell my gender so as to remove “men” from it. _shrug_ I didn’t find it funny, I found it dictatorial and offensive, and flipped off the TV. > [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > What I was trying to say was that some people seem to think the average workplace is a big 1980s Scorpions video where time slows down and the men all start gathering around, tripping over themselves and drooling (and the older women glower in the background) whenever a young woman enters the picture. (She has all the power, man!) This made me literally LOL. You forgot the young woman’s hair blowing in the wind and the soft-focus lens on the camera. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/114 "2016-02-15T20:23:34Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > It’s not a good joke, but there’s a reason Madeline Albright was Secretary of State, instead of headlining the Laugh Factory in Minneola. The tragedy of another opportunity lost to that damned stand-up comedy glass ceiling. > [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > This is similar to what [Gloria Stienem just said on Bill Maher’s show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scO9gIpR8BI). …And there is currently a wave of outrage that is spreading on social media about her claim that younger women are more likely to be Sanders supporters because “that’s where the boys are”, or something. Local outrage over newspaper headline “Girl Power in Hanover: Feminist Leader Gloria Steinem Stumps for Clinton” > **[Valley News](https://www.vnews.com/)** > > The Valley News is the daily newspaper and website of the Upper Valley, serving communities in Vermont and New Hampshire. > **[Valley News](https://www.vnews.com/)** > > The Valley News is the daily newspaper and website of the Upper Valley, serving communities in Vermont and New Hampshire. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/115 "2016-02-16T14:37:52Z")
Jessica Williams did [a clever bit](http://www.cc.com/video-clips/qplr4o/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-breaking-down-the-vagina-vote) about this on _The Daily Show_ last week and (IMHO) nailed it: both sides need to shut up. The pro-Clinton camp is doing women no favors by accusing younger women of supporting Bernie because they’re naive or want to meet boys, and the pro-Sanders camp is not doing much better by pigeonholing Clinton voters as old and bitter. ETA: personally, Steinem comes off looking worst of all in this, since she is patronizing other female voters in exactly the same way she’s railed against men for doing for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/116 "2016-02-16T16:50:18Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > **[Bolding mine.]** What’s really sad about the Democratic Party is they’re not winning the working class vote. It’s an epic failure of vision & leadership. Fortunately, the Republicans suffer from an even worse failure of vision and leadership. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/117 "2016-02-16T16:54:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > and the pro-Sanders camp is not doing much better by pigeonholing Clinton voters as old and bitter. I don’t think Clinton voters are old and bitter but it does feel like those _complaining_ about young women voting for Sanders are old and bitter. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/118 "2016-02-16T17:10:12Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > I was cute as a young woman, but not little. I’m also more educated that my colleagues at the job I held in that time, and was perceived as a “threat” to every damn woman I worked with, so no. I did not get a lot of benefit from being “cute and little” since most of the employees were bitter female trolls. > > There _are_ a lot of women who think that they don’t need feminism any more, but that doesn’t have anything to do with choosing Bernie Sanders over Clinton. If anything, Sanders supports the kinds of social programs and progressive ideals that benefit women. So Ross’s comments are an ideological colander. > > This. Saying you must vote for a woman is as bad as saying you cannot vote for a woman. I’m voting for the _person_ who I think has our best interests at heart, and that is not Clinton. > > I didn’t get the “joke” either. Perhaps it’s because I’ve never felt the need to spell my gender so as to remove “men” from it. _shrug_ I didn’t find it funny, I found it dictatorial and offensive, and flipped off the TV. > > This made me literally LOL. > > You forgot the young woman’s hair blowing in the wind and the soft-focus lens on the camera. > [@gigi](#): > > The tragedy of another opportunity lost to that damned stand-up comedy glass ceiling. > > Local outrage over newspaper headline “Girl Power in Hanover: Feminist Leader Gloria Steinem Stumps for Clinton” > > [http://www.vnews.com/news/20789809-95/girl-power-in-hanover](http://www.vnews.com/news/20789809-95/girl-power-in-hanover) > [Valley News](http://www.vnews.com/news/20885126-95/column-in-2016-is-girl-power-offensive) > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Jessica Williams did [a clever bit](http://www.cc.com/video-clips/qplr4o/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-breaking-down-the-vagina-vote) about this on _The Daily Show_ last week and (IMHO) nailed it: both sides need to shut up. The pro-Clinton camp is doing women no favors by accusing younger women of supporting Bernie because they’re naive or want to meet boys, and the pro-Sanders camp is not doing much better by pigeonholing Clinton voters as old and bitter. > > ETA: personally, Steinem comes off looking worst of all in this, since she is patronizing other female voters in exactly the same way she’s railed against men for doing for decades. People keep harping on the :groundbreaking nature of hillary’s candidacy but its not really that much of a stretch. When I talked to black baby boomers during Obama’s run in 2008, they couldn’t believe he was running and didn’t believe he could win. When I talk to baby boomer women during this election cycle, it was assumed that Hillary would run and they can’t believe she isn’t running away with the nomination. They can’t believe that all women aren’t supporting the candidate with the vagina. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/119 "2016-02-16T17:15:11Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > People keep harping on the :groundbreaking nature of hillary’s candidacy but its not really that much of a stretch. > > When I talked to black baby boomers during Obama’s run in 2008, they couldn’t believe he was running and didn’t believe he could win. When I talk to baby boomer women during this election cycle, it was assumed that Hillary would run and they can’t believe she isn’t running away with the nomination. They can’t believe that all women aren’t supporting the candidate with the vagina. Ted Cruz is probably sucking away some of those votes 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558/120 "2016-02-16T19:49:35Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > When I talked to black baby boomers during Obama’s run in 2008, they couldn’t believe he was running and didn’t believe he could win. When I talk to baby boomer women during this election cycle, it was assumed that Hillary would run and they can’t believe she isn’t running away with the nomination. They can’t believe that all women aren’t supporting the candidate with the vagina. True. But that’s not because Hilary isn’t a historic candidate. It’s because we’ve been hearing about her for years and years. Obama was transformative because he won on the first attempt, not just because he won. If he’d lost two previous primaries then we would have grown used to having a viable black presidential candidate, just as we’ve done with Hilary as a female candidate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-women-go-through-a-cute-little-phase/745558.md?page=7)