Dan Olweus, wrote in his book Bullying at School about what makes boys popular. He wrote:
We have ... found a clear association between physical strength and high popularity among peers, and between physical weakness and low popularity.
Dan also wrote:
When students are asked to explain why certain children are
bullied, they tend to refer to external (negative) deviations such as obesity, red hair,
an unusual dialect, or wearing glasses. Research on two different groups of boys did not,
however, provide any support for this explanation. By and large, the victims were found to
be no more externally deviant (with regard to 14 external characteristics assessed by
means of teacher ratings) than a control group of boys who were not bullied.
The only "external deviation" that differentiated the groups was
physical strength. Parents often think there must be something wrong with their
children if they are bullied and sometimes tell them so. Their children already are
told by their peers that something is wrong with them and then their parents add to it.
The only thing wrong with their kids may simply be lack of strength.
After the attack on the United States of September 11th there was widespread support for Osama bin Ladin. In the video of Osama bin Ladin released by the Department of Defense Osama attributes that support to his success. In the video he says:
When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse.
There are all kinds of strength. Beauty is a form of female strength and I suspect that such girls are likely to be popular.
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