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For decades, teenage and adolescent girls have used fashion as a social weapon. Bullies will pick out peers that aren't wearing the best brands of clothing and criticize them.
But these days, fashion bullying has hit new highs. Pricy celebrity favorite brands like Dolce & Gabbana and Marc Jacobs are now launching clothing lines aimed at kids and teenagers...
And why not? Tweens, or girls aged 8 to 12, are thought to spend more than $40 billion in this country every year. But having more big brands available makes bullying an even bigger problem.
It's no secret bullies will pick on kids who are different. And the clothes kids wear make for an easy target.
"Because clothes are such a current popular fad with kids, bullies will pick out kids who aren't wearing the current popular item," said Dr. Mary Jensen, a special education professor at Western Illinois University in Macomb.
And with fashion magazines, advertisements and teenage icons like Hannah Montana sporting the "latest and greatest" trends, there's a lot of pressure on girls to fit the mold...no matter how expensive it might be.
"I think that all the media exposure to clothing and what the celebrities are wearing has had a huge impact on school age children and because they get to see a lot of this on TV and in the movies and in the internet, they think it's something they should be doing. And it's used as status within the schools. Kids who are lower status are the ones without the financial resources to get these kinds of clothing items and then people who are prone to bullying will pick on those kids," Dr. Jensen said.
Dr. Jensen says there are some tell-tale signs your child might be a victim of fashion bullying. They'll become picky about what clothes they wear and will be very demanding when you take them shopping. If you spot these signs, it's important to tell to your kids fashion isn't what's truly important in life..And for them to be a stand out, they should just stand up for themselves and refuse to be bullied for what clothes they want to wear.
The damages of bullying can be extreme...Dr. Mary Jensen says that studies have shown that adults who were bullied as kids can experience effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a disease that often affects soldiers who have served in war times.
Quincy High School Dean of Students Peggy Klauser says fashion bullying isn't a problem right now...But the district does have a policy on how to handle bullies. The rule states that there is zero tolerance for bullying...and that any student found guilty of bullying can be subject to any number of punishments, including expulsion.
