I don't not think it is accurate to think of "society in general" as a homogenous entity that is heavily disjoint from "those fundamentalist churches that don't allow women to wear makeup for anything stylish." Ideology falls along a multi-dimensional continuum, and girls' rights (not entirely equivalent to women's rights, since it adds age as a factor) are not universally understood, especially since it is not a matter maturely discussed in US politics (if anything, "moral leaders" and politicians tend to sell kids' intentions and judgment short); plenty of people steer clear of the "fundamental" group but still seek to regulate expression to a substantial degree.
Those of us here can try to fill the holes on our own based on needing to be consistent with our beliefs, but a lot can be overlooked when we haven't been in a particular social position of lesser influence. MtFs can have an idea of what it is to be a woman, and they may go through certain things that teenage girls go through (growing boobs, dressing with a particular style or level of experience), but they often haven't been harassed by teenage peers who see them as girls or lorded over by (over)protective parents while presenting the female gender. Other social factors (again, economic class, race/ethnicity, religion, sexuality, etc) present their own issues that we have to do our best to understand, but we can't do it on our own.
Since Susan's is a TG-oriented site, is pretty easy for this community to pat each other on the back for accepting Trans-issues (although even that can fall to the wayside at times), because that acceptance is generally why we remain here. A feminism orientation, however, can't be considered "automatic," nor can we assume certain attitudes regarding race/ethnicity, economic class, religion, etc.
In defense of the early tone of the thread, the (trashy) article presents an emotionally-charged title with the mention of diets and boob jobs; these concepts do point to self-esteem and body-image issues that women but girls especially should not need to endure (it's not "girls being girls"). Toss in an initial post that does not make a clear dead-on point, and groupthink can spill over into other sub-topics (dressing and manicures, actions which are more playful), at least until someone with a strong contrasting take comes around. To the point, the initial flood dried up for the most part once Starr offered her experience, so I think she did a damn good job of making herself heard and understood.
