Shopping leaves negative impression on teen

Young Voice, by M. Victorial Coan

It is already summer, and if memories of back to school shopping haven't numbed me, it is time to start shopping for summer clothes.

For the past two weeks my mom and I have been shopping -- or rather browsing -- at local stores where the junior departments are offering teens crop tops that describe how we want to be kissed and how sexualized we are. They even use cartoon characters to appeal to the younger kids who see them as innocent pictures of kitties or funny people.

In addition, we are offered low neck-lined tops with high croppings and low-rise jeans.

I do not want to sound judgmental, but I feel that you can judge a book by its cover -- a girl in a tight crop top showing off her cleavage and pierced navel is not going to be mistaken for a woman becoming a corporate officer of a large firm.

Showing skin and sexualized sayings may give a message that you don't want to be saying.

Makeup is another issue that I have with my age. Very few girls under the age of 15 even need it, yet on a recent junior high youth retreat for my church, we were offered to rappel down the side of the boy's cabin.

My sister and I were the first there and after 10 minutes we began to wonder where the other girls were. When we asked our priest where they were, he said he thought that they were back at the girls' cabin.

We went back and they were crowded in the bathroom to put makeup on for the third time that day.

In a same-sex discussion that night, many of the girls talked about pressure from the boys to wear makeup, but I never heard a single boy say anything about it. Most boys my age are still playing with trucks.

I always wonder about religious parents who buy scanty clothes and loads of makeup for their teens -- or give them money to buy them -- and encourage them to wear them.

Aren't they the first to blame the influence and hold that "the world has" on their children?

Maybe they buy only what is available locally because it is easiest.

As for my mom and I, local stores forget that if they can't offer me what I want, I'll be shopping online!

M. Viktoria Coan is a student with CyberLynx School in Wasilla.