Taking Charge

This morning on the R train, a group of teenage boys asked me if the train stops at 5th Ave. It does, four stops after Steinway Street. Why would teenage boys want to get to 5th Ave? To go shopping, of course. I listened into their conversation, which was about how some new sneaker was coming out and they wanted to be the first four dudes at their school to have it. I was exposed to the high school boy shoe addiction a little bit during my high school days, when I first learned the concept that it wasn’t cool to wear shoes that were at all worn out. I wasn’t cool.

Anyway, they talked a little bit about how much money they’d saved up from their jobs, and about how much money they’d asked their mothers to give them. But what really caught my ear was when one of them sighed, “Man, I’m so excited to use my credit card. I got $800 to buy shoes. I’m buying them in every color.”

I live in a neighborhood that is, to be direct, not wealthy. Which isn’t to say that people here don’t have nice things. They do. Parked outside of shitty apartment buildings, there are plenty of shiny BMWs and Benzes. Most of my subway ride is spent listening to teenage boys show off their $200 cell phones. Like most people in America, my neighbors subscribe to the belief that not having money is no excuse not to have things.

After all, credit is readily available. It’s irresponsible, sure, but I almost understand it. Material goods seem to be The Great Equalizer in our society. After all, the girl from the Upper East Side and the girl from Nebraska can both wear Rock & Republic jeans, even if for one of them, those jeans cost the same amount of money as her monthly rent. The Investment Banker and the kid from Queens can both get Blackberries, even if one of them doesn’t have their phone bill expensed.

The kids on the R train were so excited about Visa’s generosity that they were blind to the fact that the $800 shopping spree would most likely gain so much interest that it would turn into a $2000 shopping spree. I know that SNL hasn't exactly been funny lately, but they were spot on with this skit.

Across all incomes and economic classes, the desire to have these name brands and material goods is overwhelming. Because it’s not just poor boys who want to have those nice things. Raise your hand if you’re a female with a college degree who is painfully aware of how she dresses for her entry-level job. If you truly care about the brand of jeans you wear and the purse you carry. If you tie a good percent of your self-esteem into the way you dress and the things you own.

Lest you think that I’m above it, let me just say that I’m recovering. The thing is, I never owned expensive things, I just owned a LOT of things. But I guess living in a 12x12 room will make you reconsider why you own what you own. I guess living in a city of so much wealth and so much poverty will make you wonder why people attach so much value to such arbitrary labels.

I never considered myself a feminist, perhaps because I had a hairy teacher who tried to force-feed me her agenda, who made me equate feminism with anger and ugliness. But now I see why she was so angry, and I myself am becoming incensed.