Commentary ‘Ohmygod I Hafta Go Shopping!’ By Rabita Aziz (February 10, 2004)

If only I had a nickel for every time I have heard a teenage girl say something like, "I’m sooo stressed out! I need to go shopping!" or "Ohmygod I bought the cutest blue sweater this weekend when I went to Tyson’s!" (having gone to Tyson’s the weekend before, and the weekend before that), I’d be a very, very, happy, rich little girl. Eighty-five percent of the conversations I hear while walking in the halls is about how some girl went shopping last weekend. Yes, I know that shopping is the stereotypical teenage girl thing to do. I shop too, of course. But really, there’s a limit, and the great majority of the girls I know cross that limit (and the limit on their daddy’s credit card) every weekend. 

Every now and then, shopping is a good thing. I can understand how it’s a stress reliever for some people. I don’t care what you say: all girls, no matter what societal views they have, experience a feeling of joy when handing over that money for a great skirt at a great bargain -- I know I do -- but it’s excessive and shallow when they do it every single Friday and Saturday afternoon. Now 90 percent of the girls at Mason are going to hate me, but sometimes I feel ashamed to be around these people. There’s more to life than shopping! Gasps and sounds of disgust are emerging as dozens of girls read this. Take a deep breath and count to 10. Someone had to give you the truth, and I realize that some of you can’t handle the truth, but you must realize that there is more to life than shopping in order to become a mature person. 

There are so many girls I know who claim to be very mature for their age. In reality, they’re some of the most immature people I have ever met! Spending needless amounts of money (which could have gone to feed starving refugees in Africa or helping the environment) on exclusive Guess and Abercrombie clothes isn’t a very mature thing to do. "Well," you might say, "those expensive designer clothes are of better quality than other clothes." No. A test was conducted to see which clothes were the most durable among expensive designer clothes and cheaper clothes, using polo shirts from Ralph Lauren, a department store brand, Walmart, and Target. After putting the polo shirts through durability tests with regards to shrinking, color loss, et cetera, the research results found that the $10 shirt from Target was the best quality.

What’s even more amusing to me is that all of those clothes look the same, and yet girls think they’re being fashionable and cool when everyone around them is wearing the same thing! Yeah, you’re really cool. Even more amusing (and sad, actually) is when a girl freaks out and raises hell when another girl is wearing the same thing as she. News flash: we all shop at the same stores! It would be a surprise the day everyone was wearing something different. 

It seems that everything intellectual is shunned by our little teenage society at George Mason. When a friend asked me if I wanted to go see the movie Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, I declined, saying that I might go see this documentary on the fall of the Berlin Wall instead. Everyone around me stopped and stared. Feeling like an idiot, I asked, "What?" A girl asked, "Why would you want to do that? Is it for some class?" Um, no: It’s because I’m interested in learning about the fall of the Berlin Wall! Excuse me for not girlishly shrieking about going to see Tad Hamilton. My friends laughed and said, "Oh, that’s so much better than some boring documentary." Yeah, a boring documentary about one of the most exciting and tumultuous events in history. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton is so much more fun! People are also amazed upon hearing that I watch foreign movies. "But you don’t speak that language!" You see, there’s a thing that helps people watch foreign movies. They’re called subtitles. You read them and watch the movie at the same time (hear the gasps and sounds of confusion!). I know it sounds difficult, but it’s really not. Try it sometime instead of wasting away a Saturday afternoon at LVL X. 

Really, girls, there’s more to life than shopping and watching mindless hours of flirting and making out every weekend at the movies. Read a book. Watch an independent or foreign movie. Go to a museum, an art show, or whatever. Turn the radio station every once in a while from 99.5 to 94.7, the classic rock station (more gasps and sounds of surprise). "She listens to classic rock!?! Wow, what a loser." Really, people, we’re only on this earth for a short period of time, and wasting away in the mall is not what we’re meant to do with our lives. Sure, it’s fun, but try something new, and you’ll see that it’s as much fun as trying on dozens of clothes at Tyson’s.