Teenagers are human beings too

"hug a hoodie " did david cameron say that or was it someone else ?

thats so true, teens are victimimised and a nuisance to society. Well if you treat someone like a criminal it would appear to become a selfullfilling prophecy.

Yes DSG, I know what you were talking about which is why I phrased it "hooded jackets" or hooded garments if you prefer. A hoody is a hooded jacket as is an anorak and to a person of a certain age they don't look menacing as much as geeky and old fashioned.

Also, many are are badly cut, cheaply made, shapeless and made of tacky nylon fabric but kids pay a fortune for them because they want the brand logo on them and have no idea that they are total schmutter. Their choice of course.

I don't equate hoody with hoodlum and I accept that it is just the fashion for youngsters - although I think it is starting to go out of style now - but you can't see what it looks like through our eyes. Think of something that looks old fashioned and irredeemably geeky to you now- maybe a beige cable-knit, acrylic cardigan - and then imagine 20 years down the line that your kids are wearing it!

I never said anything about anoraks,Sally!
I was talking about hoodies.

Teenagers are going through the worst period of their lives, the stresses of exams coupled with the anxiety of finding a job when they leave school and the embarrassment of puberty are hard for a young teen to take. On top of all that they are constantly told that they are useless, good for nothing thieves and junkies. It's little wonder why the youth of today are so out of control. We should be supporting our teenagers, helping them to grow into the responsible young adults they ALL have the potential to be. Instead society tars them all with the same hypocritical brush.

Sorry DSG in the 1970s anyone wearing a jacket with a hood was considered to be hopelessly geeky! No one who wanted to look good would wear a hooded jacket - why do you think calling someone an "anorak" is a term of abuse?

You only got them on anoraks and duffel coats and no one was silly enough to be talked into believing that they looked cool so no one ever wore a hood up indoors!

People only wore them up outside to keep the wind and rain off. Most older people on buses look at you , not because they think you are going to mug them but because it looks silly to them, like sitting on a bus with an umbrella up!

Why do old people think its ok to stereotype us this way?
They demand respect from us,yet they treat us like scum.
Try gonig on a bus with your hoodie up,you won't believe the number of dirty looks u get from OAPs nowadays.In the 1970s it was no big deal.But in 2005,when Bluewater shopping centre in Kent banned its customers from wearing hoodies and baseball caps for "security reasons",the seed of controversy had started to grow into a tree of hoodies,louts,yobs,hooligans and SCUM.WHY does the media keep giving us a bad name?

omg this is exactly how I feel!
i wear a hoodie a lot BECAUSE ITS COMFORTABLE, looks good, and keeps me dry.... I get really evil looks all the time in town and its like, hello. human here. Yes I like having a laugh, and yes sometimes I do stuff I probably shouldnt but I NEVER hurt anyone or anything, and I dont disrupt people or deface anything or damage stuff or.... the list goes on. So why the scary looks, people? one day im going to put my brother plastic toy lightsabre in my pocket, chav up to someone whos giving me the evils and whip it out.... just to show them THEIR FEARS HAVE NO BASIS!!!!!!!!!!

A lot of this is down to TV coverage of violent incidents, muggings, etc: most of the perpetrators wear hoods to hide their identity ( watch the police programmes on Virgin etc: ) The general public and elderly see these and newspaper articles and............hey presto a garment is the signature of a thug.

well I don't know about everyone else, but I skate, drink, and frankly I can be loud on a good night, but I wear MY hood on bad hair days. I mean come on haha, I actually went into the flower shop with my girlfriend the other day to look for flowers for my mum and the two ladies in the store room kept coming out to check if we needed help every 5 seconds presumeably so we weren't stealing anything! I even gave them a warm smile as well :( its a sad day... sad day.

not all teens are bad im a teen I dont drink do drugs smoke or any of that stuff. I go to school come home study do homework and help out at home. I do charity work regularly and think that the way we dress shouldnt be an issue either "hoodies + tracksuits" so what like there more comfortable than jeans etc!! and im currently doing a project on anti social behaviour and I think most causes of it are the parents not being there to take charge to be honest .. thanks xxxx

Well said, Amii Tollerton. I was particularly caught by the last quarter of your poem, mentioning how we, the teenagers, are the future generation. Imagine what we can do to those who shunned us and implicitly denied our rights in our younger years! The current generation is as a majority only bringing future punishment down upon themselves! Should we be so scared of those who come after us, are we to force them to suffer the same ostracizing? I, for one, believe the actions of violent teenagers are contributed to by the adult society who treats them as pariahs; revenge is sought, though perhaps not righteously. I can recall countless occurrences during which I treated adults politely and with great respect, only to have them believe I was manipulating them in some way. It seems a common recurring theme in society to forget and oust from our memories all of our sins and disavow the blame or complications of the world onto those most easily available and vulnerable. Our "honourable and wise" elders would have us respect and cherish themselves, their beliefs and values, when in return, they shun us? The current generation of adults and authority has caused me to abandon all previous courtesy and appreciation for those who came before us, who now make life for younger people a socially difficult path to walk. If I am expected to hold my elders in high regard and reverence, I deserve the same from them. It may sound ignorant of me to state this, but I would estimate that teenagers have a vastly more complex mindset than those older than us, and are far more intelligent regarding certain concepts and aspects of life simply due to what we have been put through, and the ways we have learned NOT to treat others thanks to the older generation.

I am currently 14 years old, just having reached the age where I am considered a "menace" to the general public, and I have already experienced and noted all that I recounted and worse.

I can relate, awhile back I was taking a walk. with a hooded sweatshirt on, it was dark out and it started to rain so I put up my hood, I walked a few blocks. and some guy coming out of a bar looks at me and says, what a hard ass, I was kinda taken back by what he said, but kept on walking, oh by the way im 55 years old, so who knows Don

completely agree with you. I am also used to this kind of thing and I feel so stringly about it that I actually wrote a poem about it.
I switched on the TV and couldn't believe
How could the world have become so naive?
A documentary entitled 'All teens Are thugs'
Yeah, 'cause we all carry knives and take class A drugs.
It's a daily occurrence to hear of knife crime
But binge drinking, smoking and fighting seem fine?
How can we all be tarred with that same brush?
It seems all the good teens are kept hush hush.
Old ladies cross the street to stay out of our way,
I'm sure they're scared of what we'll say do or say
For those who don't concur and do carry knives
Where is National Service to put discipline in their lives?
There are always bad eggs in very single decade,
What do you expect with the morals YOU displayed?
Think back to previous years when you were in your teens
What about Mods and Rockers and riots on the streets?
The hippy era, long hair was in and Woodstock appeared
Not forgetting when the effects of drugs were not feared
Promiscuity, the pill and AIDs became apparent
The ‘new’ drugs made their status. Where were the parents?
But we know you weren’t all bad and you weren’t all thugs
You need to know we don’t all carry knives and we don’t all do drugs.
A ‘typical teenager’ is that what you think?
Hoodies, gangs the stereotypical thing
The world we are in is of your making
The life we have was there for the taking
We are the future and we are your pension
Open your eyes and pay some attention
Put down the papers, stop watching the news
I’ve given you the facts. It’s time to choose.

I too am a teenager and feel that adults need to realise that we really are not all bad.

To "Been there"
It's not just the responsibility of teenagers to intergrate with adults, adults don't want to know either.
And you say the fun u had was harmless. that statement itself proves the point that teenagers are branded as yobs, or aggressive, not nice people, because for most of us, the fun we have is harmless too!

Personally, I think when you talk of the elder generation you need to stop and think. They have been caught up in a zone that they know nothing of. They don't walk as far as they used to or do as they would like. They are left with the tv giving them bad news every day,and it's no wonder they feel scared of the youngsters of today.
School's don't interact with the elderly now as they did when I was at school(many moons ago, lol). Just a simple 'good morning' is more than enough, or even just a smile.
If I could take the youngsters of today back 25 years, you'd see I had more fun, and it was harmless.

its right to object to being stereotyped.

BUT

if you have ever been assualted by a gang of teen thugs you might find your perspective changes a tad. just sayin.

I totally agree with you!
i know many people who feel the same way & are sick of been classed as the 'out of control teens on today'.
Yes we may smoke & have the occasional drink. But that doesn't mean we can't hold a convosation with someone or do good for the community.

I think people need to review how they see teenagers!

Don't worry about it. I'd say the majority of older folks I've ever met are ignorant and silly. I don't even get mad anymore, I just laugh at them. Speaking of hoodies, a good friend of mine volunteers downtown. He helps at the soup kitchen and does handouts to the poor. He walks to everywear though, and at nighttime it's freezing out here so he always puts his hood up to avoid catching a cold. Well, not once, not twice, but on THREE occassions he had older women muttering stuff about how this generation is lazy and take the easy route out.

I laughed forever. What ridiculous human beings.

Lol...
Im going to send all the Dangerous dog haters in this direction.
Only because I think you have knowledge of how it feels like to be judged. The difference is, you can voice your opinion, and the dogs cant.