Fashion Relationships for Facebook | Lady Info

?

Teenagers do not exist in a bubble. For most, this is an age where lifelong friendships are made, and identities carved. Now, more than ever, more teens are forming cliques and groups where they seek support and friendship. Thanks to Facebook, a new phenomenon has emerged ? fashion relationships.

What are Fashion Relationships?

These are basically fake relationships that two teenagers enter into, as evidenced by their Facebook relationships status. For example, a girl named Jenney could decide to get into a relationship with her BFF Kate, and both will indicate on their Facebook relationship tab that they are dating. The reasons as to why teenagers enter into fashion relationships vary, and we?ll look at some possibilities below.

The pressure is on for most teenagers to date, and those who haven?t found mates are thought of as ?weird? or losers. No self respecting teenager would want to put their reputation in jeopardy by being known to be single. The next best thing would be to keep people excited and curious about their relationship status. They could opt to indicate that they are engaged or in a serious relationship with a member of the same or opposite sex so that they are viewed as unavailable. This actually has positive effects in the sense that they are seen as desirable and with time, interest in them grows. If a teen enters into a fashion relationship because they are single, they might actually attract interested girls or guys due to the fact that they appear unavailable and mysterious, now that they are hooked up to someone else.

Teens are not immune to other factors in society such as sexual preference. There are many teens who are gay, lesbian or bisexual. Most are still in the closet due to pervasive homophobia and shame. Granted, the gay rights movement has made inroads in the last fifty years but homophobia and discrimination are still commonplace, particularly among teens. A teenage girl may decide to ask a female friend to change her relationship status and indicate that the two of them are dating. Fashion relationships like these are a means of showing support for their gay and lesbian friends, who suffer bullying, hate crimes and isolation as a result of their sexuality.

Fashion relationships are also used by teens to strengthen friendship bonds. For most teens, the friendship bond is more important than anything else, and short of exchanging friendship rings and bracelets, the best next thing would be for them to be in a fashion relationship. They could even go as far as checking into places together and exchanging passwords to their Facebook accounts. These friendship bonds are particularly important as they offer emotional support to both teens when times are rough. Teenage angst becomes easier to bear when teens are engaged in fashion relationships, and problems are shared and solved together.

Fashion relationships don?t last for long; they gradually fade with time, but the interesting thing is the fact that they are replaced in a few days with another. The cycle is endless, and Facebook is the platform a la mode. Fashion relationships go to the center of what it means to be human. Teens are just half grown adults who want to connect with other teens so they can weather the challenges of teen relationships and life in general.

Citations:

The author is an expert in social networks and dating site.

jeremy london jeremy london butterball turkey fryer butterball turkey fryer yale harvard dan henderson oregon ducks