Other Shoes

For our Other Shoes project, we decided to dress Maddie as a pregnant teen. Then we went to different stores and saw what reactions we got from people in the stores or just walking by. It was quite an experience and not one that we would like to have soon.
First, we went to Bella Boutique and Maddie was going to pretend to look for a homecoming dress as a teen mom. We thought this would be a good place to go because we figured that the employees at Bella don’t see a lot of pregnant girls in their store. Surprisingly, the store owner was very nice and helpful, offering suggestions of which dress that Maddie could wear but still be comfortable with the “baby.” She was a bit taken aback when we first walked in but quickly got over it and helped us just as she would any other non-pregnant customer. Our experience at Bella was different than what we anticipated but we got a small glimpse into how Maddie would have been treated had she truly been pregnant.
We then headed to the mall. As soon as Maddie got out of her car, she could feel people staring at her. A woman going to park her car stared at her as she walked past. When walking around the mall, she got stared at even more. As we got onto the escalators to go up, a woman going on the down escalator stared all the way down at Maddie. Maddie started to say that she was hungry so we headed towards the Food Court, but entered a few stores on the way. We went into Motherhood Maternity, but only for a short minute, as Maddie felt even more uncomfortable. We kept walking and as soon as we got to the wide entrance, many people’s gazes found Maddie.
Maddie got a slice of pizza and we sat down to eat. Just sitting and eating, we harbored stares. Many passersby looked as they entered or exited the Food Court. After Maddie was finished, we headed to Hollister to see how the employees there would react. We were greeted with the usual, “Hi, can we help you find something?” Maddie replied with, “No, we’re just looking, thanks.” The two female employees stared, but it isn’t all that unusual since they stare at anyone who isn’t 5’4” and weighs 80 pounds. It wasn’t a reaction I didn’t expect.
We soon left Hollister and moved to Pac Sun. Again, there was staring, and even looks from another pregnant woman, well in her 20s. At one of the kiosks, a woman’s gaze followed us from her stand to Pac Sun, which seemed a bit unnecessary. We went into Pac Sun, looked around a bit, and then decided to go to Macy’s to look at jewelry. We didn’t stay long, but the most we got were stares, as per usual.
We think the people are somewhat used to seeing pregnant teens nowadays. It’s quite common to see a pregnant 16-year-old walking through a store. Granted it’s not “the norm,” but it is still not foreign to anyone. As more and more teen girls get pregnant, hopefully it won’t become too familiar that we don’t glance at them anymore.
We got a lot of stares, no doubt about it, and a few reactions that we expected. This experience gave us some insight into how a teen mom feels in public; vulnerable, exposed, uncomfortable. It even feels like you have your own personal, unwanted spotlight shining on you with every step. It’s not a good feeling at all. And most definitely not a feeling we want to revisit very soon!!!!