Killing Time

DH & I were at a restaurant in Indianapolis a couple of days after we got married. There was a group of young girls at a table nearby. They were gossipping and giggling quite loudly so it was hard not to notice them. "Check that out! They can't be anymore than 15!" DH said to me. "Girls didn't dress like that when I was 15!" DH continued. I agreed, Girls didn't dress like that when I was 15 either. And I thought my teenage years were on the crazy side!

It must be noted, that DH is 21. Obviously as you all know, I'm 24. So, 15 really wasn't that long ago for either of us. Especially not DH.

An article in the Washington Post recently about the fact that the sexualization of girls is getting younger, and younger (think the Miley Cyrus scandal- the MySpace photos and the Vanity Fair photos) got me thinking about this table of scantily clad 15 year olds in tight mini skirts, barely-there tops, and high heels, too much makeup and too much peroxide.

Even at my craziest, you could never say that I dressed provocatively. In High School I went through phases, most predominantly I went through the whole tortured artist thing, and decided I was a mix of goth, punk and rockabilly. In retrospect, the look was more tragic and trashy than glamorously artistic, but it was never provocative. I always covered up.

What is up with these little girls nowadays though? Why do their parents let them leave the house looking like that? Why do their parents allow them to buy clothes like that? Yes, I know teenagers are difficult and rebellious. I was difficult and rebellious too. But what next? When did this become socially acceptable?

Of course I'm sure this problem isn't new. In fact, I know it isn't. If you remember the original Degrassi Junior High/Degrassi High series from the 1980s (not the new stupid spinoff on Nickelodeon), you may remember a character in the 1st season called 'Stephanie Kaye'. She changed her clothing and did her makeup at school, without her mother's knowledge. Of course this just meant that she eventually got a bad reputation, got into bad situations, and her mother sent her to a strict girls school instead (the reason cited for her departure before the 2nd season).

I know however, that it isn't necessarily the case. When I was working at the Front Desk of a hotel in downtown St. Louis, I saw more than my fair share of ridiculously scantily clad teenage females pass through. The hotel hosted regional finals for some Miss Teen something-or-other pageant, and even the clothes that a lot of the pageant girls wore when they weren't in competition I thought was less than appropriate social attire. In addition to that, high school proms were hosted, and various inter-state school functions, dance competitions, cheerleading competitions, so on and so on.

Working at the hotel, I met some truly wonderful, pleasant guests... and some truly awful ones (my only consolation after getting frequently yelled at for hours on end by disatisfied guests, was the fact that they probably have a horrible life and I just unfortunately have to bear the release of their frustrations upon the world). All in all though, I couldn't hack it. After 18 months I was happy to leave the hospitality industry for good. In such a short period of time, it seemed that people in the general public had degenerated even further.

It was getting more difficult to put on a smile and keep my mouth shut and remain pleasant, even after a guest had spat in my face (oh yes that happened a few times!), or gentlemen guests made sexual advances (that happened a lot of times), or when drunken naked teenagers vomit on you in the hallways (the joys of working night shift!).

And this is a 4 1/2 star hotel we're talking about here.

Where's our society headed? Is it going to hit rock bottom and improve? Or have we hit rock bottom already?