From a father:

Ms. Lopez, I have only a seven year old daughter, but also teach high school, so I can see the teen-age side (and fear for the future…) As you say, the culture is overwhelming and all, but fathers are just cutting the best deal they can get as you can tell. You must consider this one unavoidable fact with girls today: They are not future wives and mothers. That sort of thing is for women in their later twenties. Teenage girls into their mid to late 20s are entertainment for males—they put out and pay their own way. It seems they only consider marriage when it gets tougher to keep their youthful looks and figure. That seems to get them to “settle down.” The men in their lives resent this change from fun girl to wife. They take off. This wife/mother stuff is not what these men bargain for. You see that in the movie Juno. So, if girls are not mothers/wives in training, they are still pretty enough to attract lots of male attention. And to what end? To provide entertainment for their male admirers, not to catch a husband. In later years, they find that finding a husband is very difficult, and keeping one once the looks fade is even tougher. I see this tragically in my female colleagues, where SO many of these fine women have either been thrown away, or are not worthy enough for marriage now that they are in their late 20s and 30s. These women crab on endlessly at how “inappropriate” the girls are. That may be true, but I think they really just realize that in a few years those are the girls the available men will want. So, this father does not like the future for his little girl. To me it is all pretty bleak.