Young People Ask . . .
Fads—What Is Their Appeal?
YOUNG Avery is one of the thousands—perhaps millions—of youths who have been swept up by the popular fad of wearing slogan T-shirts. Of course, slogan T-shirts have been around for a long time; your parents may even have worn them as youths. According to Newsweek magazine, however, there is a new twist on this fad. Some youths are now “flaunting T shirts that pluck messages directly from the gutter.”
The new shirts carry slogans that are, for the most part, simply unprintable. They range from racial slurs to vulgar comments about women. Followers of this rage seem to have little concern for how others—including their parents—feel about the nasty slogans. When 18-year-old Andrea asked a youth why he wore a particularly offensive shirt, “he didn’t know what to say, just coming up with excuses like, ‘It’s cool’ and ‘Everybody wears one.’”
Over the past decades, hundreds of fads have captured the attention of youths. One of the most popular—and profitable—fads of all time was the Hula-Hoop craze that hit the scene in the United States back in the 1950’s. Go back a few years earlier, and swallowing goldfish and seeing how many people could fit into a telephone booth were popular. In recent years, break dancing, faded jeans, skateboards, and “streaking” (dashing about naked in public) have all had their moments of popularity. One Bible writer observed: “The scene of this world is changing.” (1 Corinthians 7:31) Today, dozens of fads—some ranging from foolish to dangerous—are currently in vogue among youths.
Youths and Their Clothing Fads
Take clothing, for example. According to Time magazine, rap music (often called hip-hop) “is now possibly the most successful American export this side of the microchip, permeating, virtually dominating, worldwide youth culture.” But, as you well know, rap is much more than music. Adds Time: “Rap is also a worldwide fashion commodity. Local variations of the basic American street outfit—baggy pants, pricey sneakers, hooded sweatshirts, flashes of jewelry—turn up everywhere.” Heavy promotion by popular groups—and by music videos—has fueled a burgeoning demand for hip-hop styles.
The baggy look is anything but cheap—the high-cut running shoes alone often cost a small fortune! But many youths feel it’s worth the price. According to one youth named Marcus, “if you don’t wear baggy clothes, you’re not hip hop.”
That’s just fine with youths whose tastes lean toward the popular “grunge” look. The torn jeans and plaid shirts that characterize this dress craze were popularized by some American underground rock bands. One writer called the “grunge” uniform “put-on poverty.” Put-on, indeed. The sloppy garb can be anything but cheap. Then there is “retro-chic.” According to the Canadian magazine Maclean’s, these are “fashions that revive fads from the late 1960s and early 1970s.” Adults stare in amused wonderment as youths pay top dollar for paraphernalia—such as platform shoes and bell-bottom pants—that seemingly had long since gone the way of disco music.
High Tech High Fashion
Electronic pocket pagers, or beepers, are another example of how imaginative youths can turn virtually anything into high fashion. Originally used by doctors and other professionals who are constantly on call, the gadgets soon became popular with urban drug dealers. The beepers made it easy for drug sellers to arrange meetings with potential customers. According to The New York Times, “so widespread was their use that [pocket pagers] became a symbol of the drug culture.” Little wonder, then, that school boards nationwide began banning the tiny gadgets from school!
To little avail, however. Beepers have become enormously popular among urban youths. Some use them for their intended purpose, as communication devices, enabling their parents to keep better track of them or to contact them in an emergency. But for other youths, the device is simply a fashion accessory. According to the Times, “teen-agers are tucking beepers into knapsacks, coat pockets and belts. There are beeper watches, beeper ties, beeper pens, blue, pink and red beepers, and plain old ordinary black and brown beepers.” While some grown-ups still automatically associate beepers with drug use, one New York City police officer says: “It’s just a hot market item. A few of the kids who have them are into drugs, but the majority are not. It’s just a fad.”
Fads—Bizarre and Dangerous
While clothing fads may be tolerable at best and offensive at worst, some popular fads seem to violate all rules of common sense. In order to achieve the waif look of some popular models, many young girls take to fad diets—with little thought as to the consequences to their health and well-being. “Dieting is a national obsession,” writes Alvin Rosenbaum. “Take a look at any list of the 10 best-selling books and you’ll usually find a diet book listed.” Rosenbaum points out that many of these popular books promote diets of dubious efficacy. Many experts blame the thinness craze for the disturbing rise in eating disorders—such as anorexia nervosa—among teenagers.a
Other faddish methods of embellishing personal appearance may be equally dangerous—and bizarre. According to an article in Newsweek, “tattooing, the art of the primitive and the outlaw, has been moving steadily into the fashion mainstream.” Spurred on by the examples of movie celebrities and heavy-metal rock musicians, some youths long for the chance to have elaborate tattoos permanently affixed to their own torsos. Warnings by doctors about the dangers of hepatitis and allergic reactions to tattoo inks do not seem to perturb them.
Or what about the weird fad called body piercing? Whereas pierced ears may be customary for women in some cultures, some have gone beyond all reasonableness and have had holes punched in their tongues and navels from which they dangle ostentatious jewelry. For any youth dead set on offending his or her parents, it is hard to beat a huge nose ring for sheer shock value.
Fads—What Is Behind Them?
The book Adolescents and Youth defines a fad as “a sporadic short-term fashion bordering on a cult. Fads are by definition temporary and unpredictable, and they are especially prevalent among teenagers.” But just what is it that makes millions of youths suddenly wear baggy jeans or carry beepers? Manufacturers and advertisers would love to have a scientific answer to that question. An article in the British magazine The Economist acknowledged: “Fads and fashions seem to defy rational explanation.”
The book Adolescents and Youth, however, ventures an explanation, saying: “Various factors may explain the popularity of fads: the desire to attract attention; the urge to conform to what peer groups prize; the need for distinctiveness as individuals and as age groups; and the fascination with the unusual.” One teenage boy put it simply: “High school [secondary school] is a good time to act kind of crazy and get it out of your system.”
The Bible does not condemn youthful behavior. In fact, it says: “Young people, enjoy your youth. Be happy while you are still young. Do what you want to do, and follow your heart’s desire.” However, the Bible follows up that advice with this caution: “But remember that God is going to judge you for whatever you do.” (Ecclesiastes 11:9, Today’s English Version) In view of this sobering advice, how should a Christian youth respond to the latest fads? Should you be the first to jump on the fad bandwagon? Our next article in this series will offer some helpful advice along these lines.
[Footnotes]
a For information on eating disorders, see Awake! of December 22, 1990. See also the “Young People Ask . . .” articles of April 22 and May 8, 1994 for balanced information on weight loss.
[Blurb on page 14]
“These shirts . . . Everybody’s wearing them.” 17-year-old Avery
[Picture on page 15]
Body piercing and tattooing have become very popular