I had written a long message about my teenage years but I've decided to chop it in favour of this more interesting anecdote:

I worked on tv for a bit, in a minor variety show. Before every show the make up artist would cake us up (men and women, although women would get icing on top of the cake). Kinda fun (I never wear any on my own). One of the make up artist that worked with the show then told me of her work with a particular female news anchor whom, she said, was obsessed with her looks to a pathological point. She controlled her image to the extreme. But can you imagine being on display like that all the time? The pressure on those women is enormous, and they're often relegated to minor positions as soon as they start to age.

In a similar vein: the French channel of Canada's national television had this woman who happens to be a trained meteorologist and a very good teacher about weather issues as the "weather woman." She was hired in 1980 and worked on the most important news show of the day until, in 1995, she was mysteriously relegated to minor shows. Yes, she has aged, and, yes, she is about 50% heavier than the chicks who present the weather on the other channels. Well I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I think she filed a formal complaint, and she won her position back. I was really grateful that she fought for this. She is, by far, the most competent for the job, and proved that looks did not always rule.

Bottom line: If you have a female news anchor that you like, send notes to the station where she works on a regular basis to say how much you appreciate her work.