Damn, I'm sorry you're going through that. Here, let Self-Esteem Penguin remind you that you're awesome.

"youngster overcome huge struggles with the help of friends" is exactly what I want to watch, in as many ways and as many times as possible.

An summary of my date last night, in haiku form:

Congrats on losing those 30 lbs! I know it's hard, but try not to let it get to you. I know when you're insecure about your looks or weight, it's easy to go to that as the reason they haven't responded... but you don't know why, and there's a ton of myriad reasons why you don't get a response.

Law-knowing Jezzies: my dear friend was the victim of an horrific hate crime in March. It's looking like the defense is looking for a plea bargain. Is there any way that giving him money right now could help? He hasn't asked; I just can't bear the thought of that monster ever being near my M again and want to know if…

As someone who plans college orientation and used to work is Residence Life, I want to let you know that YOU'RE NOT ALONE. There are MANY students who are feeling exactly how you feel right now. Going to therapy is a step in the right direction. You should also consider using the college's counseling center. These are…

It's my birthday, too! 26.

You want to turn someone's private information over (that your friend gave to you during his or her hard time assuming you would keep it private) to someone who would make it public and you don't see any problem with that?
I'm not saying using connections is bad, I'm saying that you seem mighty self-congratulatory…

Tacos are what separate us from other animals.

What's wrong with being a snob?

Hey, SNSers. Let Hannibal tell you some jokes.

The experience of being told that you are not good enough to be someone's partner is terrible. They could say "Look, I'm just not attracted to you.", but no, they have to take it an egotistical step further. There ARE men out there who find a variety of sizes attractive, because they think women are sexy period. I'm…

But talking that way to impress friends, which reinforces everyone in their conviction that they need to be terrible to women, is shitty. Even if you have a group of eight guys, six of whom are just talking because they think they should, one who is an aggressively abusive asshole, and one who is weak and dependent…

Unless you fall in love and marry the first person you meet, pretty much everyone you have a serious relationship with has probably had at least one, if not more, serious relationships before you got there. The whole 'starter' concept is just cruel, shitty people affixing a bullying term on something that is common to…

I won't deny that there are a lot of really shitty guys out there. Witness most of what was said above, along with a ton of other Jezebel articlea, plus our friendly trolls here.

Gender aside that is a shitty shitty way to treat another person.

All of the four versions are insulting. Date, experiment, whatever, but don't peg people as being your 'starter' anything. Life isn't a dress rehearsal (unless you're religious but let's not get into that here).

“I think it’s quite inappropriate. Especially for the age groups it’s aimed at. I think it’s, you know, promoting promiscuity."

I have never been a top designer, so I can't speak of them in the "fashion world". But there are a lot of really wonderful designers out there that really do care about how everyone is treated. Shit, I always worry about models we come across and give them lessons in what to not put up with like some old mother hen.