Thanks for this post.

One more thought: The Quasimodo Syndrome. This is the twisted fairy tale of beauty that emotionally scars women to this day. Women are told to accept men as they are, men only want beautiful women . . . Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback of Notre Dame. She was supposed to love the guy, but the men only looked at lovely women. UNFAIR!

Sorry no, one person saying what we already KNOW to be true, doesn't heal age old wounds. Don't want to be a grump, though. It's still good for these things to be said, and heard. (I don't buy into the "the bullies were just learning how society works" though. In my experience + from what I've read they're either afraid of getting bullied, so they trample others before they get trampled, or they're so stupid they honestly think themselves perfect and that it's OK for them to treat others like s**t. OK psychologists don't put it like that, but basically they have a lack of self knowledge and an exaggerated sense of self worth. I'm thinking Trump is a perfect example. And all kids' behaviour is learned at home, so if a kid's a bully, they were taught to be one by their parents, one way or another.)

I was bullied in grammar school by all 11 boys in my class- some worse than others. I'll never forget Francis D'Amato- bruised my arm, he hit me so hard. So bullied at school, abused at home. No wonder I got married at 19.

I grew up fat so I was always reminded of this by kids. I WAS the fat kid, so I always believed that I was ugly too. It was only that I grew older that realised that this wasn’t the case. It took many years to finally accept myself and that if you didn’t like me, that was your loss. I lost the weight (only recently) and I finally feel acceptable by society.

I needed this post back then, but I'd never have believed it. It still makes me cry reading this, but the post is true. No one is truly ugly on the outside, but I have seen some extremely ugly people on the inside. It's the insides that count. Be good. Be kind. Be respectful and considerate. Then the world will see your inner self reflected in your appearance too.

this happened to me a lot (i mean the getting asked out because of a dare)

Growning up no one made me feel worse about how I look than myself. I was (am) so self conscious about my teeth being crooked and spaced out. My family couldn't afford braces as a kid with single parent income and the dentist saying they'd "straighten themselves out". I've learned to love certain things about myself that I didn't notice as a kid. I'm still growing into myself I think.

I actually found far more comfort in accepting the fact that I'm not pretty/beautiful and that I'm okay with that, than people telling me "no you were really okay looking all along." As Hatchet-Face says in Cry Baby, "There's nothing the matter with my face. I got character!" But if the Tumblr post makes other people feel better, then I'm glad for it.

Awww, I literally just learned this.

I was just kind of invisible... I was a really cute kid, but then I became a teenager, and hell opened its gates for me. Skinny as a stick, glasses, acne, crazy hair... My class mates all had boyfriends, and I was the odd one out. I was the ugly nerd who the cute guys came to for help with their homework; outside of that, I basically didn't exist for them. For 14-year old me, that was absolutely crushing. However, looking back at this experience now, I think that it actually wasn't too bad for my character development. Since I couldn't trust/ rely on my looks, I trusted my skills and talents instead, and I learned to be humble very early on.

I hope this was a helpful post to those who were called ugly as a kid. I know that some kids really get bullied for being "ugly" and I just hope that they mange to stay strong and maintain their self- worth in later life.

Back in the day when I was in my later teens and early twenties (so late seventies to early eighties), if it got known that a girl at work was still a virgin, the assholes used to get together and bet each other they could take her virginity. Bet you anything they did the same thing when they were in school too (and weren’t the only ones). Real class acts, weren’t they? Class-A assholes, actually. When another girl and I got wind of that stupidity going on at one place I worked, we started telling all the other women there, particularly the newer, younger ones (the assholes’ favorite targets), about it, and for them to continue to pass the word on, until all those “boys” were no longer employed there. The girls stopped saying yes to dates with any of the guys at work (to be safe, all the guys had to be included, as we weren’t sure just how many, and which ones, were involved), and eventually we stopped hearing about their “bets”.

And that takes care of my ugly cry for the week. How ironic. Thanks for sharing Terminal Politics' beautiful healing words, Robertas. Someone needed to hear this today. Maybe it was me.

that was nice, I am pretty ugly tho. I mean I can look nice. Im pretty confident so I can admit it.

Anyone ever been "whale hunted" at a bar? Where college boys would try to pick up the fattest girl for kicks. I've had that happen to me quite a few times. Absolutely ruined my self esteem.

I was a very serious student in school. I wanted to learn everything, read everything, hear everything the teachers had to say. Spending more than half my free time with my nose in a library book meant little primping and socializing. I was called many names: nerd (before the word was a compliment), bookworm, snob, mouse, plain jane. As the years went by I retreated into a safer world of my own making. I learned to be silent, stand at the back of the crowd, never draw attention to myself. I am still inclined that way. My revenge: I love what I am now.

I grew up thinking I was ugly. I am actually, well, unusual-looking. The way I made peace with this, pretty early on, is to treat physical beauty the way most "normal" people treat things like musical talent - something that would be nice to have, but isn't a tragedy if you don't have it. I don't need to be told I'm beautiful or even normal-looking. I know I'm not, and I'm perfectly OK with it. The real payoff of being an ugly woman comes later in life - aging is not as painful if you've got no beauty to lose. That, and the total absence of catcalls and other harassment. This has literally never happened to me.

Knowing that there was more to life than school (especially high school), my parents made me feel great about myself even tho' I had a pizza face. They took me everywhere, gave me a love of art, reading, music and theatre. And my gal friend who also had a similar face -- we came to the conclusion that our faces kept us from being pregnant and married at 16. Now I have a sensational life full of people who know the true me. Being taught at an early age that looks are only surface made looking forward easy!

I'm not crying, you're crying! <3

They didn’t even call me ugly, but I felt it. I didn’t look like the cool, popular girls. I am still amazed to this day that my husband calls me beautiful everyday, never once saw me ugly.

I have two sides to this. I grew up feeling fat, really fat. This was confirmed by my peers, my mother and even a teacher. I found photos recently of when I was 13 and... guess what, not that fat. Ofc then I got depression and really did get morbidly obese but I'm starting to think I would have had a better chance at being healthy if I hadn't felt like I was 400lbs as a teenager. However I also grew up feeling ugly. Nobody said anything about my looks, but since I'm now 35 and have had zero romantic interest, I think that one is probably true.

It was extremely rare that I ever got noticed, much less bullied. 99% of the time, I was just completely ignored. At some point, while growing up, I actually thought I had the power of invisibility. I hit 6 foot 4 inches tall in the 5th grade. And yet, the times I was told by school kids, teachers, and even people on the street "OH! I didn't see you there", numbers in the billions.

When you got teased for liking that googly eyed girl with the glasses and tiny tits but she was the sweetest thing and now you know how cool it was because tiny top girls with glasses are all the rage but you knew that eons ago. And you knew you'd never find a better girl... and she was there, and she was yours... and the cool guys with the hot chix failed miserably!

Yup.. I was the ugly kid - in so many ways - I still am. The importance of the adults in one's life helping to negate this cannot be stressed enough. I'm fairly certain that the reason I'm convinced I'm camera-cracking ugly even now is that in elementary school... even the teachers would join in, saying things like "Even though she's not pretty like so-and-so..." or... my parents... who would give the backhanded "Well at least you're not both ugly AND stupid" - anytime anyone gave me a gift... mom would state something like "Oh, they gave you soap because you stink"... "they gave you make up because you're ugly" - she thought/thinks she's hilarious. Today? My peers are so wrapped up in themselves and getting compliments/support FROM me, the thought of being good to me doesn't even cross their minds.

Yes, but you see, I actually WAS ugly.

I was the ugly one. But I grew up as a good person. No issues against anyone.

They just found a convenient way to bully and torment this innocent child, knowing they could get away with it and nothing would happen to them. They dumped and released their rage on an innocent target who they knew would not get back at them for doing so. Kids can be so mean sometimes.

I was physically and emotionally abused by my peers throughout my school years. I learned to fight dirty, I learned to be as nasty to them as they were to me with their actions and words. All this taught me was to be socially distant, dismissive and disrespectful of other people and their opinions. I had no respect for authority since they had never protected me nor defended me. Then, I met and married the man I loved, he passed away and I met and married the love of my life. They taught me how to be human, how to be loved and how to respect other people and their opinions. I will never enter a church again, nor will I ever join a "social organization". I will be happy, in my own way, on my own terms, from now on. I will never be judged again.

Everyone called me a nerd on summer break. Just cause I like reading and drawing more than playing on the Nintendo Switch. But I learned to love my "nerdiness". Never let what THEY say define you.

This is so beautiful.

Thank you for this post. I was the ugly girl, and I still consider myself ugly, and that's on a good day. I was chosen the ugliest girl in the classroom when I was twelve, and everything became worse after that. I grew up on a small town, and even random people on the street would call me ugly. I remember countless episodes. My piano teacher called me ugly, so I never wanted to play in public anymore. It appears I was quite talented, learning piano since I was four, but I stopped playing alltogether in my teens. I just couldn't take it anymore. I did not get support at home either, on the contrary. I wish I couldn't remember. Started cutting myself at twelve and had my first serious suicide attempt at sixteen. Today I see myself as an ugly woman, and I just cannot believe any compliment. Years of therapy, traditional and non-traditional. I have come to accept it, although sometimes I really hate myself. I keep fighting though. Years do bring some wisdom. Again, thank you for this post.