madzeelyn

LET ME EXPLAIN. No, I do not have a pregnant friend.

Nikki - black
Catherine - gray
Johannah - purple
Sarah - orange
Me - green 

Okay, so today my friends and I went to Pentagon Mall and Catherine (gray and pregnant duh) pretended to be a pregnant teenager so we could see the reactions of people. Her “baby” is really just a helmet stuck inside her shirt—but it looks believable right?! Believable enough that many people at the mall just assumed she got knocked up by some failed boyfriend. Half of the people either gave us one glance and then looked away, about 1/4 stared for a while, 1/8 made comments on the side, and 1/8 gave her really dirty looks. And it was sad to think how some pregnant teenage girls actually get treated this way in public. I mean, I know they’re not saints, but are degrading looks really going to help them at all? At least they’re still trying to take care of the baby and be responsible of their actions. Not to mention, some are not pregnant by choice, some girls got raped and got pregnant and don’t believe in abortions, therefore have no other choice other than to raise a baby. And those girls certainly do not deserve to be looked at like filthy creatures. I guess it just shows to show you can’t really judge anyone by their cover.

We were only on our way to the metro and there were already people giving us looks and stares. (Oh and it was really awkward because there was a REAL pregnant teenager and when Catherine saw her she used her purse as a shield and walked faster. Imagine if the girl saw us. >_<) When we got on the train, this one man just stared and stared at her belly. After we got to the mall it was pretty interesting because the people there just could not stop staring. You think they wouldn’t be so obvious about watching her, but there were some people that walked up to our table during lunch and slowly passed by to stare. There was even this one middle eastern lady with a light green polo sitting on a bench. We were walking to a store and had to pass the bench in order to get there and when she saw us going her way her eyes seriously popped out of their sockets. She gave us the dirtiest look and her gaze followed us all the way into the store until she could not see us anymore. (Did I mention the store was behind the bench so she had to turn her neck a full 180 degrees? Like how much more freaking obvious could you be?! You’d think people would be slightly respectful but nope.)

When we were ordering our lunch this white guy ahead of us in line turned around and noticed Catherine’s belly and quickly turned back around while exclaiming “OH..” then whispering to this girl. A white mother was walking with her daughter, who was probably about our age, in Macy’s and when she caught sight of us she gave Catherine the elevator eyes and a “Ha, serves you right” look. These two asian men that work at the massage area also stared and watched us walk all the way past them. Also while we were just walking around the mall there were certain comments we would overhear, such as, “That’s too bad” and “Damn that sucks.”

However, when we went shopping in a Bath and Body type store, the gay, black employee dude greeted us like normal customers and was even friendly to Catherine asking her whether it was a boy or a girl, then making positive remarks about it being a boy. We also went to Sony and the dude that was explaining cameras to me I want to get a new camera asked her how far along she was and if she knew what it was as well. Employees tended to be more friendly and less judgmental, perhaps because we were customers but also because they could talk to Catherine and get to know her and see she wasn’t just some girl who made a mistake but an actual person.

On our way home we had to ride the metro during rush hour. And if you live near the metro DC area, you KNOW how crowded that place is during that time. Basically, all these rushed businessmen and women are crammed into trains with more than half of the people in the standing. It’s really quiet, too. And it was so awkward for us to get on the train to go home because they were all adults and the train was already crowded before we got on. So we got on and had to stand and got a look from everyone on that train. Thankfully, those adults weren’t as rude and didn’t stare as long but there were some women that looked extremely shocked.

So yeah. That’s the end of my story on our pretend pregnant visit to Pentagon Mall. It was an interesting experience to see how people reacted to teenage pregnancy. I was surprised at how shocked some people looked, but overall the experience was fun! Towards the end of the day we were just laughing. (And seeing Catherine unpregnant after the whole day was really weird.) Too bad we didn’t film anything. Maybe next time. The end! :)