Wristband etiquette
So, I was looking for information about the survey that said that young women wanted to be glamour models on www.thelab.tv, and I stumbled across this, about charity wristbands and teenagers…
Apparently,
75% of 15-19 British teenagers believe that the colour of the charity wristband is more important the charity.
So far, so unsurprising - glad I told work that this was one bandwagon we shouldn’t jump on. But then this creased me up:
Nearly 60% of 15-19 year olds use the bands as a way to identify the sexual preference and availability of a potential partner
What? WHAT? Yes, yes, it’s true! Older dykes and gayboys - remember the hanky code? You know, where you really didn’t want your nana’s floral affair she lent you when you had a cold hanging out your back pocket when you went cruising? Well, this is the modern equivalent, otherwise known as what your wrist says about you:
Pink = Straight female
Blue = Straight male
Yellow = Lost virginity
Red = Sexually available
White = Currently attached
Purple or Turquoise = Gay
Black = On the rebound (recently separated)
Pink + Blue = Bi male or female
Pink + Red = Straight female sexually available
Purple and white = Gay and attached
So then, what did it say about me that I spent the election campaign wearing both a MPH white band, and a Vote Labour red band? No wonder I got odd looks on the doorstep from teenagers - and there was me thinking that it was just because I wanted their vote…!
Well, I went round for some time with a red wristband saying “Make Capitalism History”, but no-one - male or female - tried to pull me. I guess this must mean that either
(a) It’s an urban myth, or
(b) I’m ugly.
Hmmm…!
I am amused that I was wearing a blue anti-bullying band and a red band - god knows what teenagers thought of me!
I’m not a big braclet wearer, so when I get them I hang them off my bookbag strap. I have a white one for Making Poverty History, and a pink one representing my NOW membership…so far this would be correct, as I am a straight female and am currently attached.
But then I have another one…green for saving ANWR. I shudder to think what that could possibly mean.
Not that I’m an expert on youth culture, but it’s not long since I was a teenager, and these sorts of things aren’t something current everywhere, and are rather blown out of proportion by a journalist who was told it by a single teenager. It’s rather like single-source anthropolgy or something I’d say (not that I know anything about that), in that it tells us precious little.
It was reassuring though to know that my white one that reminds me of Glastonbury wasn’t sending out an incorrect message to anyone better-versed in the culture than I.
I got two at freshers fair - both plastic and neither charity, but if it’s the colour that counts I guess that doesn’t matter. One’s black (Park End) the other green (Green Day). What does that mean?
Wristbands? Just as meaningless as gelled hair and feminism.