Author: Veronica

I said I wouldn’t do it, but here I am, jumping in boots and all to give you my opinion on the whole t-shirt debacle.

The T-shirt Debate.

An Aussie clothing chain has released a set of t-shirts emblazoned with various slogans.

I pinched this picture from Megan at imaginif. Thanks.

Parents are up in arms, calling for the tops to be recalled, that they are unacceptable, and that they shouldn’t be worn.

Apparently they turn girls into slutty seeming, sex wanting bitches. Boys become drunk, asshole (really that should say arsehole. We are in Australia here), pimps.

Parents are swearing that they will NOT buy these t-shirts, etc etc.

Fine. Don’t buy them. Finished.

However, the more that teenagers perceive that these tops are controversial and likely to cause anger, the more they are going to want wear them.

Would I buy them for my daughter? Probably not. Would I have bought them for myself when I was 14-15? Most certainly. Am I going to have a hissy fit if Amy walks in wearing something similar when she is 14? I doubt it.

The shop in question selling them is marketed towards teenagers who are able to buy their own clothes, not teens still dependent on their parents for money.

My mother was laid back and when it came to the small things, she was prepared to let them go. I wanted to dye my hair purple and green and blue? Okay, she would help me do it (it wouldn’t work by the way, my hair was too dark).

You know why? Because it was ONLY HAIR. It grows back. I could have shaved it and she wouldn’t have batted an eye. She also let me wear whatever I liked. She helped me pick them out even. When I was 16 she bought me these boots.

Because she let me be my own person, clothes and hair were never rebellious points for me. I never ‘acted out’ by cutting my hair and wearing ‘odd’ clothes.

Sure, I made some clothing choices that were in (very) poor taste, but once I realised that I stopped wearing them.

These tshirts are going to become more popular now that there is such a controversy surrounding them. More teens are going to want to wear them for the reaction they garner.

I remember what highschool was like.

The kids with the strictest parents were the most likely to lie and change clothes after they left the house.

The kids with rich parent had access to hard drugs and the liquor cabinets.

The kids with deadbeat parents smoked dope.

Generalisations I know, but that was what it was like. These kids BRAGGED about what they got up to.

‘My Mum doesn’t know I wear heavy makeup and tight tops because I change in the dunnies at school’

‘My pars never notice that I am getting smashed on their alcohol because they are too busy at work’

‘My parents don’t give a fuck what I do, so I get stoned with me mates’

In the scheme of things, a thirt is such a small thing. It doesn’t make the person and it doesn’t say anything about who they are.

You have to let teenagers make their own decisions when it comes to the small stuff.

You have to choose your battles.

Is wearing a stupid t-shirt for a while, until it becomes uncool, actually going to affect the person your teenager will become? I highly doubt it.

Are they going to act out more if you make it into a big deal? I would lay money on it.

Also? The Mr Pimp t-shirt that has all the (supposed) sexual connotation that are getting up peoples noses? A ‘pimp’ to a teenage boy is a boy popular with the ladies. It isn’t sexual at all.

Feel free to disagree (politely of course) with me in my comments section. I will explain my reasoning behind this whole breakdown of the teenage psyche. Remember I was in highschool a few short years ago. I haven’t forgotten what it was like.

Remember when we all went ahead and nominated some of our favourite blogs for the bloggie awards? And how you got to opt in to be on the panel? Well, YAY. There I am. A panelist.

First up I was excited!

Yay! I get to have my say! I feel so special! I can use lots of exclamation marks to show how I felt!

Then I had a look at the categories I get to have my say in.

Sport? But I don’t read any sport blogs. Who are the sport bloggers?

Music? I love listening to music, but reading about it? Not so much.

Best Computer and Technology Blog? Oh GOD! Why me?

Have I mentioned that I have dial-up? (yes Veronica, in every other post) and that it takes aaaaaaaaaaages for pages to load? Yes? Okay, I will shut up now then. Anyways, I am at the point in the voting where I am SO OVER IT, but yet, I feel so powerful!

You? No, don’t like your layout and you are hard to read. BEEEEEEP gone.

You? You write well and you are easy to read. DING go ahead.

You see? The supreme powerfulness of my job?

The catch you ask? YES! You are with me. There is a catch and just a small one.

THERE ARE 20-30 BLOGS IN EACH CATEGORY AND I HAVE TO LOOK THROUGH 10 CATEGORIES!!!

30×10=300.

300 blogs on my teensy weensy computer. FUN! (Well, actually it is a whole lot of fun and I am discovering a bunch of new blogs. But shhhhhh)

So. My point you ask? Well, not really any point. Just having a whine.

I haven’t gotten around to the category I am most looking forward to though and that is the best kept secret category. Strange, but I actually know a bunch of blogs on that list. (Am I allowed to say who it is? Amiamiami?)

Anyways, I have until the 18th January to get my nominations in. I foresee either the page being left up forever, or me writing the people I like in each category down.

I don’t get a chance to vote for my own blog *sobs* because the categories I may have been nominated in are absent from my nomination list. Conspiracy? Much.

I so wanted to see who was on the list of teen bloggers too.