"Miss, Why'd you wear that?"
"That outfit's clean Miss!"
"Did you put that outfit together Miss?"
The above statements are all statements taken from my students over the past three years. I've got myriad more. They all have one very peculiar thing in common: they're all statements made by 14 year-old boys. Granted, some may be 15 (And let's be honest, some may even be 16) but these are all statements made by the younger males.
I've noticed when Junior and Senior boys complement me, it's usually a bit more sophisticated and/or general, such as "You look nice today, Miss," or even, "I think that outfit really completments you, Miss." However, the reality remains, of the 10 times I'm complemented on an outfit or my looks or comented on, 8 of those times it is a young male who does it.
Now you may be saying, "Well duh. Boys always look at girls. That's just it." Research shows, however, that girls/women notice a beautiful woman in the room or nearby before they'll notice a good-looking man. In other words, they're noticing too and at the same rates. Also, reaserch shows women to be more loquacious than males and far more prone to verbalize feelings and reactions. Isn't it a standard observation in our culture that men almost never notice a woman's specific outfit or verbalize critiques on fashion?
My point? It's just plain weird. It's weird to consistently have everything I wear, every way I fix my hair scrutinized by 14 year-old males on a daily basis. They're not supposed to care! And I suppose you want more examples. Well, of course you do. For one, you can further understand what I'm talking about and for two, they're just plain funny.
Every October almost, I die my hair with a 28 day die to make it darker for Autumn. It's the only time each year I die my hair and it gets rid of all the Summer's blonde highlights and evens my hair color out. Sometimes things go wrong. The store didn't have my normal color -- a dark brown with tints of auburn. I tried a new one. It was a bad decision. Friday I walked in and every single class period, my boys asked me, "Miss! What did you do to your hair?!" "Miss, did you do that on purpose?" "Miss, do you know your hair is purple?" "Did you do that for Halloween, Miss?" "What's wrong with your hair?" Wow.
Today, I wore green plaid pants and green suede vans and a green polo. I thought, minus the vans, I looked about like every other teacher. "Miss, are you trying to look like a leprechan?" "Miss, those shoes are tight!" "Miss, you look like you still got pajamas on." "I think you look nice today, Miss. The green complements your hair."
I remember a few weeks ago a kid asking me, "are you ever going to cut your hair?" I smiled thinking that he'd noticed not many of his female teachers have long hair. I said, "No, why? Does it need cutting?" (I remembered a line from Alice in Wonderland where the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse are discussing a haircut.) Surprisingly he said, "Yeah... It's kinda shaggy." He laughed as he said it and looked down as if he didn't want to say it but 'since I asked.'
Last year, I had one boy ask me why I don't wear pink and black together. They're his favorite colors and he thinks they look good together and they'd look good on me. (Incidently, I do wear the two colors together, I just hadn't at that point in the year.)
One boy liked an outfit I was wearing so much he wanted to make sure I was the one who "put it together." He asked, "That belt and everything?" My word.
I wore a black and white plaid skirt with tulle under it one day and kneesocks with Mary Janes. I had on a red sweater with a white shirt underneath. Very preppy looking, I'll admit. But I liked it because the skirt went just below my knees, I didn't have to wear hose, and the shoes were flat. One of my older boys said, "Miss, why'd you wear THAT?" He wanted my justification for coming to school dressed like THAT however THAT is.
I have them comment on my shoes. "Miss, those shoes are pimp." Especially the tall boots. Sometimes it's "Those look clean!" and sometimes it's "Miss, those are hooker boots." It's not like I wear them with mini-skirts. Usually with long skirts, just for the record.
And maybe this isn't so much as fashion as it is with their boldness, but boys will just ask, "You're REALLY a teacher?" when they don't know me. They're used to sitting in desks listening to me talk and when they walk up to me get an astonished look; as they tower over me they can't help but say, "Miss, you know you're short?" Maybe I'm trailing off into an article about disrespect here...
So to all you 14 year-old bloggers out there, I ask, "Why do you do it???" And it's the other high school boys too. Why? Every day I'm critiqued. I don't really care, I just notice they notice. And I'd like to know why. Anybody got any theories?