Teen Lingerie
I was driving down the road a couple weeks ago and heard a commercial for a prominent and well-known store that had a clearance on all teen lingerie. The thirty-second snip-it asked for girls to come quickly to check out the great deals on the intimates they needed for back to school.
I immediately thought that I needed to write about this. I have noticed as I had done some back to school shopping that more and more of the stores have become retailers of intimate apparel. American Eagle, Aeropostale, Wet Seatl and others all have tables, if not walls, of lacy boy shorts, thongs, and bikinis for girls of all ages to rummage through and find.
On the one hand I can understand as a teenage girl not wanting to be in the locker room and sheepishly changing due to the granny panties in the whisper pink shade that she is sporting, but at the same time leopard print and strings has come into an entirely new market.
Reading one site, the retailer expressed that teenagers first wore bloomers in the 1940’s and 50’s and the age of teen lingerie has continually progressed through the decades into what it is today. From the ages of 15-24 is the highest number of sales contributed to lingerie sales. Not only are we talking about the basic intimate apparel, but now manufacturers are offering corsets, baby dolls, and other teen savvy intimates as options for our girls.
The sexuality of a teen girl is something that has been hidden and shied from in our churches and homes. We in no way have explained and even encouraged the fact that God has made us as sexual beings. Due to the ignorance and even curiosity in growing up through the teenage years, teen girls are now even more susceptible and prey to our ever-influencing media.
Just the other day I was in a store and saw a group of younger girls probably, 5th or 6th grade, rummaging through the piles of options that they could buy, with the money mom and dad gave them. I remember thinking that I hardly even understood body parts and functions that were going on during that stage of my life, much less how I looked and tried to feel in them.
I can’t help but think of the thoughts that are running through their minds as they sort through the costly lace that they envision will grant and satisfy a longing for love and attention in an opportune time. They step into the store, or up to the table, feeling a little awkward and shy at first and end up indulging themselves in a lifestyle that is chasing and thriving on a fantasy that replaces intimacy and love with triviality and vanity.
Our little girls drawers that were once filled with costumes of princesses and disney characters are now overflowing with a cry of insecurities and vulernabilities in overpcieced pieces of lace.
