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Vampire Love Bites and Lady Gaga Eyes: Teen Trends Terrify Parents

1 year ago
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Suzi Parker
Suzi Parker
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I used to think a teenager's hickey was a mark of young passion: the kind that went with bruised lips from too much kissing in the front seat of their parents' borrowed car. Urban Dictionary defines them as, "A usually dark-colored skin mark left on any part of the body after having it sucked for a long period of time."
Thanks to the undying "Twilight" phenomena, teenagers (and, I imagine, some of the adults who have claimed their stake in Team Edward or Team Jacob,) are now indulging in biting -- like wanna-be vampires. In the things-that-make-you-go-huh? category, teens are biting each other, and yes, exchanging blood, and not just on the neck. Arms, chests and even tender faces have bite marks.
"Why?" you may ask.
Vampires have invaded the United States' culture, from the "Twilight" franchise to shows like "True Blood," sucking in millions of viewers. Vampire fiends even have their teeth filed to look like fangs. The biting fetish only reiterates how twisted pop culture has become in daily life. It shows someone cares, teens say. (How about just passing a note, scribbled with "I like you, I care about you, BFF"?)
Teenagers told the Web site, Radical Parenting, that they bite each other for numerous reasons, including they like the "excitement" of pain. Cutting – a parental concern of years past – didn't, well, cut it for them anymore.
They also said biting is hard core but not permanent, like piercings or tattoos, which most states prohibit for anyone under 18.
Parents naturally are concerned about biting. Where skin is broken, bacteria enters. CBS medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton told the New York Daily News, "Any time there's a break in the skin, especially when you're talking about the human mouth, it's loaded with bacteria . . . You can set up for potentially some serious skin infections."
(With a slim possibility of AIDS? A couple of teenagers told me, disturbingly, that no one worries about that anymore.)
Biting is considered a new status symbol that displays ownership. Historically, teenagers gave each other more discreet symbols of their love. They exchanged class rings or, once upon a time, wore boyfriends' letter sweaters to signify commitment.
Not anymore. "OK -- biting trend I have done, will do, and do," says Chloe, 14, who lives in Little Rock. For Chloe, at least the love bites are "not based on vampirism -- especially because I detest 'Twilight.' It just feels good and it's a way of leaving a mark on someone you care a lot about, or getting a mark left."
And oh, how far we have come with influences. In the 1980s, a friend dressed like Madonna every day for months, wearing lace gloves, crinoline skirts and rubber O-ring bracelets to school. In junior high, I had my Siouxsie Sioux phase of heavy black eyeliner, teased hair (green at one time) and fishnets. The big pain factor there? Those fishnets rub bad blisters with high heels.
It seemed so radical then, but so innocent now.

Today's muse is fashionista music goddess Lady Gaga. Teenagers everywhere aspire to meet her, and be her – to the point of risking eye infections.
They ape the wide-eyed doe look Lady Gaga sports in her space-age surrealist video, "Bad Romance." Ironically, in the song, Lady Gaga, whose eyes in the video are computer enhanced, sings, "I want your disease." Indeed. That just may be what teens get if they wear the super-sized contact lenses that transform the wearer into a Blythe Doll.
The contacts, called "circle lenses," have become a YouTube hit. Makeup artist Michelle Phan stars in a video, which has generated nearly 10 million hits, detailing how to create the "googly eyed" look:


To copy Lady Gaga, you need fake eyelashes, black liquid eyeliner, white eyeliner, purple and white shimmery eye shadow, along with drops of Rhoto V to both prep the eye for the contacts and to get the red out. The eye should look as ivory as an anime character. Then insert the contacts, which come in cute, sparkly containers including one featuring Hello Kitty and range from $20 to $30. Voila!
Time consuming? Yes -- but so was creating new wave and goth eyes back in the day. The contacts however, which are inserted over the cornea, are not FDA-approved. Though they are easily obtained online, it is actually illegal to sell the Asian-manufactured lenses in the United States.
The one teen fad that never goes out of style, regardless of the decade, is danger. ("Rebel Without a Cause," the first movie to accurately address teen angst, was filled with fast cars and guns.) Kids argue that biting and contact lenses are no more risky than two adult indulgences -- cosmetic surgery and tattoos. Biting and contact lenses likely won't kill anyone, but they may cost parents money for antibiotics and a doctor's visit.
No doubt, helicopter parents are twirling over these two latest teen crazes. But kids crave edginess. They seek out danger like adults search for the latest savings at Home Depot.
Filed Under: Woman Up, Culture
Tagged: anime, Lady Gaga, Lady Gaga Style, Lady Gaga video, twilight, TwilightSaga
More articles from Suzi Parker »

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22 Comments

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GOBGOTZ

Let the children do whatever they want. How else are they going to learn?

July 13 2010 at 11:53 PM Report abuse -23 rate up rate down Reply
MOMMYOWIE

Oh, and by the way, if anyone thinks it's cool to be "branded" by the person they are dating, etc...ya better get some help because that's a form of abuse.

July 13 2010 at 11:45 PM Report abuse +16 rate up rate down Reply
MOMMYOWIE

Um hello biting and exchanging blood not risky????? Really??!! Since when?? Have you heard the latest stats on transmittable diseases for the 20's down through the teen years?? Three out of five, yes that's 3 out of 5 have an STD, and that includes the blood-bourne ones. I have teenaged children and when they came home and told me that, it made me really sad and fearful for them and all kids...and a part of me was hoping that they were misinformed, but then it aired on t.v. too. Wake up people and get these kids to take better care of themselves and each other...and yes, their parents definetly need to do it too. God bless everyone.

July 13 2010 at 11:44 PM Report abuse +14 rate up rate down Reply
david and sylvia

This is just more proof that people are IDIOTS. Biting each other, how stupid do you have to be to think this is ok. To know "everything" teenagers sure are dumb as rocks to do this crap.

July 13 2010 at 11:31 PM Report abuse +13 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to david and sylvia's comment
MOMMYOWIE

@david and sylvia...The good news is that not all teens do this. Thank God!!!!

July 13 2010 at 11:55 PM Report abuse +10 rate up rate down Reply
Warren D

Every generation of kids - since kids were invented -has vexed and frustrated parents with fads, and trends that make Mom and Dad crazy. This is nothing more. It will die a sure death in time as this "vampire" madness ebbs.Adolescents, and "tweens" are always going to buck the norm their parents want.They'll be fine - we all were.

July 13 2010 at 11:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
wwinter raynes

For goodness sake what's wrong with todays youth. Most of it is that the parents are either afraid of their kids or afraid to act like a parent.
If at anytime in my teenage years I'd pulled any of the crap that kids do today my mother would not only have grounded me she would have busted my butt which is one of the things that parents ought to learn how to do. The proper way to spank you child and make them be childre until they can move out and then they can be the boss of the world like they seem to think they are as teenagers.

July 13 2010 at 11:12 PM Report abuse +5 rate up rate down Reply
Zachary

im a teen and to be honest i like twighlight but this is just weird

July 13 2010 at 11:04 PM Report abuse +14 rate up rate down Reply
banksm2010

i agree with Lili, this "new trend" isnt new at all people have been doing both these things way before a book can influence them. so dont try and blame literature for your kids problems. if you dont know lady gaga copied her style from asian pop artists including the lenses. its just knew to most americans.

July 13 2010 at 11:02 PM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply
Buckingham's

So let me get this straight; the kids today want to be vampy and trampy?
How truly sad.

July 13 2010 at 11:01 PM Report abuse +16 rate up rate down Reply
Megan

I was doing ALOT worse in the 90's growing up and our children now-a-days are alot smarter and more aware than we were back then. These are just fads and kids will be kids !! If you don't let your child express who they are and what they want for that moment in life, they will grow up to hate and despise you as a parent.

July 13 2010 at 10:48 PM Report abuse -10 rate up rate down Reply

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