When I started working at Victoria's Secret Pink this summer, I didn't think it would teach me anything of value -- some extra money and more experience on my resume is all it was to me. I do love the job, but I don't want to work there for all of eternity or anything. Working there, though, you get to experience a very interesting demographic. Women of all ages, from all walks of life, shop there. Since it's a standalone Pink store and we don't sell all the fancy lingerie, we get a lot of very young girls in the shop. All in all, I think those young girls have taught me the most.
Even in just working there a few months, I've seen a lot. One of my most memorable experiences was asking a 14-year-old girl if she wanted to start a credit card. We ask all customers this unless they aren't 18. Sometimes I ask the customer’s age just to confirm. Herein lies the conflict that I had that day: I was wholly convinced this young girl was 18, and I didn't even think to ask her age. She was wearing perfectly applied makeup and was dressed like a sophisticated, working woman. I was absolutely shocked when she asked if she was old enough and told me her age. Even my managers were totally surprised. I don’t have anything against makeup or the way people dress, but I’m lucky if my eyeliner comes out even and my socks match. I would never be mistaken for five years older than I really am. I thought 14-year-olds were supposed to be playing Pokemon Go and crossing out enemies’ names in yearbooks. Maybe I’m just outdated.
Another instance is when I watched a seventh grader nearly scream at her mother because she wasn’t allowed to buy a thong. I distinctly remember the words: “I’m a teenager now, Mom.” She said this as though being 13 years old gave her some sort of pass into the world of thongs, as though her age gave her the god-given right to them. This caught me off guard, to say the least. I’m not sure when thongs and lacy bras became a symbol for adulthood, but they’re a poor representation. You can’t pay rent with a thong, at least to my knowledge. The mother eventually came and asked me my opinion while her daughter was in the fitting room. “I’m so conflicted,” she admitted. She even asked me how old I was when I started wearing thongs. I pled the fifth.
Despite these two incidents, the day that stood out the most happened just a few days after I started the job. A girl and her group of friends came in to shop; I asked them our standard questions -- how they were doing, what they were shopping for, etc. The one said she was back-to-school shopping, so I asked what grade they were going in, trying to connect with them. They were going to be freshmen in high school. I left them to browse and one of them came up to me a little while later asking me to find her a bra to match the panties she had picked out. I showed her all the ones we had and left, staying nearby in case she needed a size.
A bit later, I overheard her and her friends talking, and although I really hate eavesdropping, it was obvious these girls wanted to be heard. The girl I had been helping asked her friends if they thought her boyfriend would like the color she picked out. They debated this for a while until one of her friends remarked, “Well it’s not like they’ll be on for long anyways.” Another one of her friends added, “I’m sure he will like how it looks on the floor.” The girl who was purchasing the items called me over and asked my opinion. She then explained to me that her boyfriend was away at college, and she wanted to surprise him. Let me just make this clear: this is not about the fact that this girl was having sex. It’s my personal belief that a 14- or 15-year-old does not have the capacity to make a decision of that caliber. However, to each their own -- I just would like to hope that everyone who makes that decision is educated and comfortable. What I found interesting about this situation was the fact that these girls obviously wanted to be heard talking about sex, and even made sure that I, a store attendant, was aware that that was what was happening.
Working this job has made me very aware of two issues: one being that young girls are desperate to grow up, without any real notion of how adulthood works. This has been the case forever, I’m guessing. Young boys and girls should be reminded to cherish childhood and adolescence. As adults who remember how great it was to not pay bills and have a thousand responsibilities, we should try to remind our younger counterparts about what it means to be a kid. The second issue, and the seemingly more important one I’ve noticed, is what worries me more. This being that young girls seem to associate sexuality with adulthood. It seems to me that girls are thinking that lacy lingerie and thongs are their ticket to being an adult. As almost anyone knows, there’s a lot more to being an adult than sexuality. I find this notion to be quite scary. Does this lead young women to make, perhaps, uneducated decisions just so they can seem cool or grown up? I don’t know the statistics on that specifically, but I’m guessing the answer is yes. Peer pressure, from friends and the media, is alive and well, folks.
In America, we are bombarded by thousands of ads a day, many of which use a sexual nature to attract buyers. This is the way it works, and the way things sell, and that’s not the fault of companies that use these marketing methods. However, it’s my belief that we need to educate young men and women that the nature of adulthood has nothing to do with sexuality. Thousands of teen television shows depict the characters in way-more-adult situations than most teenagers will ever face. Young people these days are surrounded by falsehoods about adulthood, and I believe it’s our duty as a slightly more wizened age group of people to help the young ones recognize that.
