Weighty issues on August 10, 1998…

Dear Breakup Girl,

Okay. Here is my question. I am 17 years old and have had 2 boyfriends, but not for over a year. I would like a boyfriend for obvious reasons, but there isn’t really anyone out there who’s right for me. Also, I am wondering if weighing more than 140 pounds (chubby, but not obese, by any means) makes it harder to get someone. If I wait until college, when I will find the right guy? Will he want me? What will people think if I end up 30 and unmarried, 40 and unmarried…?

— Just Asking

Dear Just Asking,

I don’t know what people will think, but I do know that people who are 30 and unmarried, 40 and unmarried…just fell out of their seats over the fact that a 17-year-old asked that question. Oh, sweetie, please don’t worry; you are right on schedule. About the weight, well, the reality is that, yes, in the age of Kate Moss, it may be harder (at square one) for you to get someone. If you choose to shift to a lower-weight lifestyle for health and fitness, be my guest. But Muriel, don’t let me catch you dieting to fit into that wedding dress you saw in a magazine.

Love,
Breakup Girl

Keeping up appearances on June 22, 1998…

Dear Breakup Girl,

If a guy is interested in you, the only thing that you can find wrong with him is his looks and on that basis you reject him, does that make you the most shallow person on Earth? Please reassure me that you have to be attracted to someone, or else it wouldn’t work…please?

— Worried

Dear Worried,

Yes, you have to be “attracted” to someone. Or at least feel the potential stirrings thereof. So answer me — and yourself — this: When you decided to take a pass, what, in essence, were your thoughts? Can you honestly say, in good conscience, that you rummaged through all of your hormones and neurons and other chemical apparati and came up with no gut-level attraction whatsoever? Or did you think, “Well, he’s not the biggest hottie in the world, I’m afraid of what people will think…” ? Breakup Girl honestly doesn’t know which it is. But you do.

Love,
Breakup Girl