In the US, teen fashion chain ‘Forever 21’ has launched what has been labelled a “controversial” maternity line called Love 21 Maternity. The range can be found in Forever 21 stores in five states. Apparently, three of these states have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. Some are claiming that Forever 21 is deliberately endorsing or encouraging teen pregnancy. They’ve made quite a thing about it. See this and this and this.
It’s obvious really, isn’t it. The impressionable young woman sees a baggy dress or elasticised pants and says to herself: “I think I’ll get pregnant so I can get some of those!”. And let’s not even mention those cool maternity bras with the little hooks allowing release of the flaps for easy breast feeding.
I love this quote: “The maternity line has some cute, fresh and very young clothes, which only proves that they were targeting young soon-to-be moms”.
Only proves it? Oh that’s right, I almost forgot. Mums who are not in their teens are expected to look dowdy, unfresh and old.
I wonder what the critics prefer? That a pregnant teen not have something half decent to wear? Like she doesn’t already have enough problems to contend with. Is it better we send her off to the sackcloth and ashes shop where she can find something really ugly and punishing to wear, a point I make here:
I’m not making light of teen pregnancy. Yes it is a serious issue. It’s also has complex causes. Reducing this to a debate about whether a few items of clothing in a few stores in a few states in America encourage it, is trivialising the importance of the issue.
Not every young woman wants an abortion. They are overrepresented in research findings on negative mental health outcomes after abortion. Some shared their distress in my book Giving Sorrow Words: women’s stories of grief after abortion. But if a young woman has decided to go ahead with her pregnancy, surely she should be given every support. Including some clothes to wear that won’t make her feel worse.
10 Responses
I love how people draw conclusions so easily, it must be that these people have such a degree of brilliance that the rest of us only ever hope to achieve through study, research, testing and proving ideas and then can still get it wrong.
So having nice pregnancy clothes promoted leads to higher pregnancy, well I’ll be darned. And gosh we really need people to feel crap about themselves cause that solves everything.
Forever 21 may be targeted at teens but it’s a clothing line chain that offers fun and fashionable clothing at a very affordable price. Its customer base extends well beyond the teen market. Teenage pregnancy can’t be swept under the carpet nor can we pretend that it doesn’t happen. I cannot see the correlation behind having a clothing line for pregnant teens/women and promoting teen pregnancy. Being pregnant is such a financial strain on a teenager without adequate support. I can imagine that t is probably quite a relief that they can buy some nice clothes (expiration shopping) and feel better during their pregnancy without breaking the budget.
Hi Melinda,
I reckon you’re spot on with this. Intuitively I know you’re on the money that this sort of product line doesn’t promote teen pregnancy. However, I also agree with you when you argue that push-up bras for 5 year olds promotes a really bizarre understanding of what it means to be a person, and particularly a women.
My question is, why is it that one product line seems to have no effect, and another a negative effect? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
I don’t quite understand the problem. I’m 27 and would LOVE for some of the chain stores in Australia to launch maternity ranges so I can buy cute, flattering and on-trend clothes for pregnancy and breastfeeding!! European chain stores such as H&M have a young market and have had maternity and baby’s wear for years without having to face accusations of glamourising teen pregnancy. And even if the cynicism is founded, why shouldn’t Forever 21 launch their maternity line in states where they are guaranteed a market? Seems like smart business practice to me.
Thanks for your responses. Daniel, to address your question, I think the differences are these:
5 year olds don’t need push up bras, this is an imposition on the 5 year old, that she should have the appearance of breasts.
5 year olds don’t buy push up bras, adults do, for their children. Again, this is imposed on them by parents and aggressive marketers.
The 5 year old is being offered an item for breasts that don’t exist. The pregnant woman is being offered garments to accomodate her growing tummy.
5 year olds don’t have breasts and we need to ask ourselves why we want them to look as though they do. Similarly, we need to ask ourselves why we think pregnant women should not have access to clothing that fits and makes them feel good.
Also, I think we need to consider the proliferation of sexualised/inappropriate clothing for girls. We don’t have a profileration of teen maternity wear…
Some initial thoughts anyway…
Mtr
Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention, Melinda. I totally agree with what you’ve written, and find it absurd that people would consider the provision of affordable, trendy maternity fashion to be a promotion of teenage pregnancy. It’s simply meeting a need that exists, whether we want teenage pregnancy to be a reality in our society or not.
I also agree with your comments regarding the difference between this issue and the marketing of push-up bras to 5-year-olds. My daughter, who is now 7, has fortunately never noticed such a product, nor has she ever expressed a need for a bra! If, when she’s a teenager, she did somehow end up becoming pregnant, I’d be thankful for a store selling affordable clothes that appealed to her. The idea that she’d become pregnant just to wear them is totally ridiculous.
Thanks for writing this Melinda. I first became pregnant at a very young age, 15 and I can say it wasn’t because of the availability of clothes! It was a very stressful time and things were made worse by the nastiness of people around me. Complete strangers would gawk at me and some would make comments, all felt as though my growing abdomen was their business. The first person to say ‘Congratulations’ was a nurse in hospital who was so kind to me. I tear up thinking about it!
Anyway, back to the clothes. When I was 15 and pregnant, there was nothing to wear, not unless I wanted to look like a middle aged woman, or wanted to spend $80 on a pair of maternity jeans. These days I notice that a lot of lower priced retailers are starting to stock maternity clothes that look nice and comfortable too.
The bottom line is, pregnant women exist, sometimes those pregnant women will be very young, but they all need to wear clothes!
And just in case there are any young pregnant girls reading this, let me tell you Congratulations!
Thanks Melinda, I was reflecting over the weekend about the difference between this issue and sexualised clothing for kids and ended up with similar line of argument.
well i think that forever 21 isnt to blame for the outburst of teens getting pregnant. to be real i dont think that any one is to blame except the teens themselves. i know because iam a teen myself yet i am not nor near pregnant. most of my friends are pregnant and i dont blame any one but at the same time it is their fault they could have done something to protect themselves therefore the one to blame is them.