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Subcultures 101, Tuesday, Period 3
Tuesday, January 19th, 2016 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
living_endless"Hey," Didi said, from her usual perch. Her dark hair was bunched in ponytails today, and she'd paired her black jeans with jelly bracelets and a vintage NKOTB t-shirt. "Today we're talking about one of the more maligned subcultures, teenyboppers. Teenyboppers are young girls -- usually 15 and younger -- who follow adolescent trends in music and fashion. Marketers started using the term back in the '50s, but it didn't really become popular until the '70s."
"The big thing about being a teenybopper is, it's a relatively easy subculture to get into. You don't need to be old enough to go to clubs alone, or rich enough to buy a whole new wardrobe. Get some CDs, a few posters and t-shirts and you're ready to impress your friends. It's a safe space for young girls to think about boys and independence and sexuality at a time when those things can be pretty scary."
"Musicians associated with teenyboppers change about as fast as the girls in the subculture do. Justin Bieber and One Direction are big recent teenybopper icons; others have been Britney Spears, Jonas Brothers, 'N Sync, David Cassidy and Bay City Rollers. There's a premium on cute, nonthreatening boys and relatable girls."
"I have a teenybopper soundtrack to back up our discussion. I'd like to hear what being a teenybopper means to you, and whether you ever identified with the term. If you didn't, what does it make you think of?"
She hit play on the music and nodded to someone to start the discussion.
"The big thing about being a teenybopper is, it's a relatively easy subculture to get into. You don't need to be old enough to go to clubs alone, or rich enough to buy a whole new wardrobe. Get some CDs, a few posters and t-shirts and you're ready to impress your friends. It's a safe space for young girls to think about boys and independence and sexuality at a time when those things can be pretty scary."
"Musicians associated with teenyboppers change about as fast as the girls in the subculture do. Justin Bieber and One Direction are big recent teenybopper icons; others have been Britney Spears, Jonas Brothers, 'N Sync, David Cassidy and Bay City Rollers. There's a premium on cute, nonthreatening boys and relatable girls."
"I have a teenybopper soundtrack to back up our discussion. I'd like to hear what being a teenybopper means to you, and whether you ever identified with the term. If you didn't, what does it make you think of?"
She hit play on the music and nodded to someone to start the discussion.