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The adage once was: "The worse the economy, the shorter the hemline." An economist I am not, but judging from the hemlines I see on teenage girls walking the hallways of the high school where I teach, we are a broke, broke nation. If you throw in the spaghetti straps, push-up bras, and painted-on jeans, I'd say our economy must be beyond recovery at this point.

I graduated during the "Grunge" era, so I'm apt to shock when it comes to current fashions. A girl was "hot" if she wore combat boots, tights, pleated skirt, beat-up Alice in Chains concert tee, and a flannel tied around the waist. A burka might have been more revealing.

Lest you misunderstand, despite my early-90s background I am not an out-of-touch, fuddy-duddy teacher. I'm only 31, still well within my fashion prime. I even receive non-ironic compliments from students on my attire from time to time. Yet, I am concerned at some girls' inability to see the line between modish style trends and brothel-wear, particularly now that warm spring weather is upon us once again.

At the school where I teach, hip-hop is the ubiquitous style genre. Hip-hop for girls is different than when I grew up. Then, it was more important for girls to shun femininity in favor of the sagged jeans and triple-X t-shirts of their male counterparts. Now, girls seem more inclined to emulate the "bootie girls" featured in Snoop and Li'l Jon videos.

I understand the motivation. It's the style. Cynics are quick to assume that the girls dress this way just to attract male attention, but that's simplifying the issue. Girls want to look like they belong in the hip-hop world, a world where success and money and fame and "bling" are attainable, where the party is non-stop. If boys look their way in the process, that's one more benefit.

They don't understand the consequences. The video vixens and club mamas these teen girls follow aren't always happy with the non-stop party. The public doesn't always accept as "bad" the cases of abuse and sexual harassment that occur as a result of these licentious displays. The other day, I saw one of my female studentsa cute freshman who loves her super-tight Applebottom jeansget slapped loudly and, probably, painfully on the butt by a male student. It happened in the hallway, in front of dozens of students and several faculty members. When I decided to act on the incident, everyone involved seemed surprised at my reaction. The mentality was, "She dresses hoochie, so she gets treated hoochie."

Fashion is cyclical. I doubt we'll ever see the repressed styles of the Victoria era againthankfullybut I suspect more modest trends will someday return. In the meantime, all worried parents and teachers can do is attempt to impose dress codes that will surely be circumvented and ignored, and hope for a wellspring of wealth for our apparently faltering economy.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Mccoy.
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