OK, #VintageMagTweets time and, after a thread about the failings of some 70s and 80s agony aunts to support youngsters, I wanted to look more positively at why problem pages could be so important for girls and young women.

There may be upsetting subjects in these clippings.

Huge levels of ignorance about their bodies and about sex caused some girls to worry themselves sick.

You can tell this girl has no one else she can speak to.

So many of these girls badly needed friendly reassurance.

Haven't we all felt something pretty similar in our mid-teens? At the end of our rope, and unable to talk to those around us in case they mock.

My letter would have said, "I have a body like a bolster and hamster cheeks and I hate PE and I love a boy who doesn't like me."

(Yeah, go on, make an article out of THAT, Daily Mail!)

A man is trying to run these girls over in his car! And they're scared to tell their parents.

I don't have the reply to this, but my guess is that it's because the agony aunt said exactly what she ought, which was to dump him pronto.

Bless her. But it's a huge worry for a lot of young girls because of pornified images in the media.

Again, I'm pretty sure the advice here was that this was just WRONG and she needed to speak to her mum or another adult about her dad's behaviour.

Ditto.

And again, we've all been there and sometimes you need an adult who's removed from your circle to say, No, and Chin Up, and It Will Get Better.

That's it for tonight but I'll add to this thread on Sunday. x

A little bit more of the #VintageMagThread on the importance of agony aunts. All clippings come from the 70s and 80s, and from girls' teenage mags.

Your heart absolutely breaks for her.

And this one. Periods are such a huge thing to deal with when you're young and you don't feel you have an adult's support.

Here's a horrible mother. Thank goodness, the agony aunt answered this letter with calm, helpful advice.

And this one makes you want to weep. The girl is so pragmatic about the family's loss, so caring about her brother.

Agony aunts often had to deal with letters about racism. I recognise the font here as from Just 17, an 80s magazine where the advice given was usually spot-on and no-nonsense. I'm sure the reply therefore would have been sensitive, realistic and very clear that racism is wrong.

Apologies here for the language of the time.

This girl needed (and received) reassurance that there was nothing wrong with her relationship.

"equally nice, except he's racist". The agony aunt put her right about that.

Again, horrible language for which I apologise. This was in common use at the time, and I remember all sorts of people arguing it 'wasn't a slur'.

These last four clippings show how racism wasn't just widespread, it was open and accepted.

Agony aunts of the time probably did a great deal to counter those kind of bigoted attitudes.

Something lighter now.

You'll be relived to hear that the answer was a firm STOP.

Ditto.

Hooray for gender non-conformists.

Here are a couple of letters and responses which are really not appropriate. Today's agony aunts would answer very differently. 1 of 2

The reply. (2 of 2)

Obviously the agony aunt means to be reassuring, but it is not in any way acceptable that this 11 year old is regularly being left on her own.

This one also concerns me a lot.

I wonder what happened to that girl?

What agony aunts were best at was dispelling ignorance and tacking self-hatred. This girl just needed to be told her body was OK and that she had not damaged herself in any way.

I'm sure problem pages of the 70s and 80s must have prevented tone of heartache by quashing playground myths.

Myths passed around by girls *and* by boys.

Once again, apologies for the language of the time.

I post this because it shows the kind of questions agony aunts got from girls who had no one to check with.

And that's the end of this thread.

If anyone is offended by a cutting here and would like me to take it down, let me know. It's always a balancing act, knowing what to post. x