SUPPORTING FASHION?
Rubber wrist bands have become all the rave. Some folks wear them in support of a cause, some just to make a fashion statement. I personally wear a Livestrong band and Strider wears a One band. My daughter, who just finished 1st grade, used $2 of her own money to buy a blue Make A Wish Foundation band from the hostess counter at a restaurant last week then promptly put it on her ankle in accordance with the fashion trend here.
This article tells of a British school that banned them during exams, thinking the kids would use them to cheat. And another nearby school has limited students to wearing just one wristband per day, claiming the ever-growing number of competing causes was getting out of hand.
Has the merit of these wrist bands been replaced by a mindless fashion trend? Did these schools make the right call?
posted by Sar at 4:13 PM
26 Comments:
3 things...
1.I also wear a national ms society band
2.I have heard that in some high schools the bands signify something more than just a cause...you wear a the color to signify what stage you are at in your relationship. ie.how far you have gotten with your girl or boy friend.
to us old folks I guess it's the equivalent to first base or certain color m&m's.
so if you have a teenager looking for a certain color wrist band...do a little homework and find out exactly why they want THAT color.
3.another use for the wrist bands is so that teenagers can see (literally) the sexual preference and availability of other teens.
the rest is from an article I found.
(you can tell I didn't type it because of the lack of spelling errors and use of caps)
A white band showed that the wearer was "currently attached", while yellow showed lost virginity. Purple or turquoise meant the wearer was gay. Black indicated recently separated. Pink and blue together meant the wearer was bisexual.
Other combinations of bands carried longer messages, the teenagers said. For example, a pink and red band worn together showed the owner was a straight, sexually available female.
sorry for the long comment.
link for the article --->http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/news/s/162/162345_the_hidden_message_in_your_wristband.html
You pose a good question Sar and by Striders comments, I would say that they definately have taken on a new meaning.
Always gotta' keep an eye on those teens, regardless of the trend.
Peace.............
some of the bands make it seem they are supporting a cause like USO when only a small percent is going to the cause. The Live Strong 100% goes to fighting cancer. So if your looking to help a cause make sure allt eh money is going to that cause when in doubt just donate with out buying a band.
Both the wrist bands and the magnetic ribbons on vehicles seem to have gotten totally out of hand. There are just too many of them. I have seen people with as many as six different wrist bands and as many or more different car ribbons. It has gotten so silly that the listed "cause" for the green ribbons is now "support for ribbons" as posted in our local paper this week. Insanity, if you ask me,
Awesome Strider, I sent off for a box of those bands from The One Campaign also. Excellent cause, even if the band thing is getting out of control.
Now I don't want to wear one and the kids or their friends think the wife and I are swingers, HA!
There was an article about this in The Economist a week or so ago. I wear a scowl. Is that cool? At all?
I only purchase the bands if they money is guaranteed to go to a charitable cause. Therefore, I only wear a Livestrong band, "I Will" band for juvenile diabetes, and one for my university (where half of the money goes to a university scholarship endowment, the other half goes to the local food pantry). I am in the process of buy a ONE band as well.
I think it's a shame that people have been rendered so utterly ineffective mentally that they have to resort to these measures to "do something" about the world's problems. OF COURSE these bands are about fashion and identity -- what the heck else would get people to care?! At least some of these bands are actually made in sub-human conditions overseas! Check this out:
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=588782005
my niece--just graduating elementary school, and my goddaughter--just finished ninth grade are incredibly wonderfully compassionate.
They wear the bands for causes proudly, and I think that's great. Anything that causes kids to care and become involved in the larger community outside themselves is.
Didn't know the things that Srider said; interesting.
I wonder if the 'one' white bands and the 'make poverty history' bands are all made in the same place.
the only bands referenced in Johns article are the 'make poverty history ones.
you can go here and get the 'one' bands right now.
https://store.one.org/donate.aspx
Up in Canada the bands are such a fashion craze! They sell bands that say 'peace' 'love' etc on them at teen girl accessory stores. I think the biggest reason that they are just a craze up here is because it wasn't until recently that we could buy the actual cause bracelets. I personally don't wear one, however I do wear a silver breast cancer bracelet where 100% of the proceeds go to breast cancer. Also some of my running gear is 'breast cancer' gear. I think if causes made gear like the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation did they would not only rase further awareness but they would rase more money. Any time that I have the oppertunity to buy an item with a breast cancer logo on it opposed to the same item without I purchase the one with the logo, even if its a little bit more money. I don't do this because of fashion I do this because I care about the cause and to rase awareness.
My 13 year old Grand Daughter wears them, I think they are blue. She tells me that if you wear a lot of them, like up to the elbow her school will give you some kind of a reward. She also wears a POW/MIA braclet. She got involved with POW/MIA issues when she was 8 years old.She wanted one because my wife and I both wear them. She has met the Father and Step Mother of the man whose name is on her bracelet. I have posted my Question Of The Week, I'd like to invite anyone that is interested to stop by to answer it.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
I have freakishly fat wrists and can't wear those rubber bracelet thingys. If I could, though, I'd probably wear a ONE band. Whenever celebs put their inflated egos aside for a legitimately good cause, it's a wonderful thing.
(I'll save my scorn for those stupid Kabbalah red string bracelets that trendy celebs like Madonna and B.J. Clinton used to wear!)
You know, it seems like there's the Annual Scare About Teenaged Sexuality. This year, it happens to be about these stupid bands.
A lot of the hoopola is nothing more than paranoid bullshit deliberately concoted by certain newspapers/TV stations to get people's attention and sell stuff.
But there is truth to it in some cases. So I ask this question: so fucking what?
Why do people get so obsessed with teen sexuality? Is it because they themselves are no longer teens and long for the days when hormones raged and there wasn't a job or mortgage to worry about (that's the camp I would probably fall into, if I gave a shit)?
As long as the kids don't get pregnant, spread STD's or hurt each other, why does it matter? We've got kids in this country, "The Land of The Free," who die of starvation, are forced into terrible lives by poverty and a lack of a future, and are being sent off to sacrifice their limbs and lives to secure a steady supply of oil.
Let the young'uns have sex and wear their bracelets. Hell, we'd all be doing the same thing if we were that age now (or trying to do the same). The world's got too many other problems to obsess about this stuff.
my answer to jack burden
"nothing more than paranoid bullshit deliberately concoted by certain newspapers/TV stations"
- well the info I got about it was from a teenager.
"so fucking what?"
- do you have kids? if so...do you know what a rainbow party is? if not get back to me after you know what that is.
if you do know what it is...would you be OK with your daughter being involved in one? if you don't have kids then you can not understand any arguments I may offer.
"Why do people get so obsessed with teen sexuality? Is it because they themselves are no longer teens and long for the days when hormones raged and there wasn't a job or mortgage to worry about (that's the camp I would probably fall into, if I gave a shit)?"
- first...no that is not the reason.
- second...your question 'Why do people get so obsessed with teen sexuality?' you answered in your next segment ---->
"As long as the kids don't get pregnant, spread STD's or hurt each other, why does it matter?"
- kids do GET pregnant, kids do spread STD's and kids do HURT each other.
"We've got kids in this country, "The Land of The Free," who die of starvation, are forced into terrible lives by poverty and a lack of a future, and are being sent off to sacrifice their limbs and lives to secure a steady supply of oil."
-I agree...what does this have to do with teenage sexuality?
"Let the young'uns have sex and wear their bracelets."
- fine...but it is better to be educated as a parent rather than to NOT be educated.
"Hell, we'd all be doing the same thing if we were that age now (or trying to do the same)."
- maybe we would...but it doesn't mean our parents wouldn't be doing the same thing I would.
"The world's got too many other problems to obsess about this stuff."
- yes the world has problems...but there is room to worry about family issues as well as world issues.
Easy there Strider, Jack's good people (wow, Jack, sounds like you touched a nerve!). I happen to agree with Jack's point that teens are going to have sex and it's more important to promote protection against STDs instead of abstinence (which may be more ideal to parents, but honestly not realistic especially in this day & age). I do think that the bands as sex markers is pretty crass but less degrading than the phase when guys were competing using a point system for who they *did*.
I think the bands were novel and admirable as a symbol of awareness, but their validity as such has been seriously compromised since they became a huge fashion trend.
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I was just making a point.
I am sure jack is good people but why does that mean i can't express my point of view?
you know I don't hold punches.
i wasnt mean about it...was I?
Strider,
No, you weren't mean. You were expressing your views, which I totall respect.
To your point, would my views be different if I had kids and so on and so forth? Yeah, sure, but I don't, so why try to anticipate the unknown? And just because I don't have kids doesn't invalidate my argument; this is my world/country/society, too.
Sar pretty much spelled out what I missed in my wee rant (and thanks much for the backup, Sar!), which is that education is the most important thing, and that my only for concern for the kids when it comes to this whole band thing, is that they don't get pregnant, STD's, etc; I was just trying to sepearate health concerns from cultural concerns.
My point about kids living in poverty and getting sent off to war because the military is the best option they have is merely that if you're really concerned about kids, then sexuality, as it pertains to these bands, should in no way be at the top of the list.
If you can consider how poverty and optionionless futures (not to say that the military isn't a good option, but for many it's the only one) affect today's youth, then decide that stuff like these sex bands are more important, then you, in my opinion, are not worried about the kids. You are worried about your own beliefs and how you should not be offended.
I'm not saying you're like this, Strider, because I don't think you are. But I sincerly believe that a lot of this outrage has nothing to do with genuine concern for the health of our youth; it is religious/social dogma that does nothing but incite people to stupidity, fearmongering, censorship, and, in the end, fucked-up kids.
Whoa!
You rock, Jack.
And you know I got your back Jack. Ooooh, that was so much fun to say, I'll say it again...I got your back Jack! :)
PatCam - Put Keannu away before you hurt someone! ;)
jack (and sar I guess)
first...I will state this again...I agree there are more important things to worry about than what a wrist band means.
second...that doesn't take away from the fact that as a parent you need to worry about sex and sexuality with your children. to somehow downplay the importance of kids having sex is silly. don't let sar's caviler attitude fool you. she is just as worried about it with her kids as I am with mine.
yes abstinence would be nice but educating them is most important...I was just simply pointing out that these wrist bands have become more than just about a cause. they have become about sex and sexuality.
I never stated I was paranoid about the bands but keeping up on what the trends are and what your kids are up to is part of looking at the whole picture and being able to educate your children. right?
also sar was the one who posted on the bands hence making it an 'important issue' in her eyes.(i guess) I was only pointing out what these bands have come to mean.
also isn't it better to talk to your kids and understand what's going on in their lives and what these things mean rather than to have no clue as many parents do?
that's where you start to have problems. when parents don't understand.
third...where did I ever say I believed that preaching abstinence was all I advocated?
fourth...as I said...we can worry about multiple things. I may worry more about my immediate family then about some big issues but I will still support what I believe on the big issues. you all just know that by now if you read my blog with any regularity.
I will though, worry more about my daughter getting pregnant at 16 then whether or not the draft may happen tomorrow. that is not to say I wont do everything I can do to stop a draft but priorities are priorities.
fifth...
"I'm not saying you're like this, Strider"
I'm not.
sixth...I think we are for the most part on the same page. I do believe that there are bigger issues confronting our kids...
but sometimes when you have kids you have to be educated also...not just the kids.
like I said...do you or sar know what a rainbow party is? goodness knows sar and I better hope our daughters are never involved in one. regardless of them wearing protection or not.
the parent has to understand that the priorities of a 16yr old are not where yours are...so you look out for your children on ALL issues. not just sex, fear, censorship etc.
btw...I like to number my points just so i don't forget any.
I hope it doesnt sound like a lecture when you are reading it.
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Well done on a nice blog Sar. I was searching for information on astronomy charts and came across your post SUPPORTING FASHION? - not quite what I was looking for related to astronomy charts but very interesting all the same!
Well, it's a new year - in fact it's almost the Chinese New Year. I'm still putting together astronomy lesson plans for the first and second semesters. This year the budget allows us to purchase a new telescope for the science group. That's great so we're still juggling the numbers how to get best bang for the buck! Not the 'big bang' you understand LOL. I'm coming down on the side of the Meade LX200GPS 12" Schmidt-Cassegrain. Let's wait and see.
If you do have a moment, please take a look at my new site on: Astronomy for Kids .
A happy new year to everyone!
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