Spirit Day: The Aftermath

In 2005 a school mate of mine wanted to start a Gay-Straight Alliance at our high school. Ours was the only school in the district that didn't have one and she decided that if even one person wanted such a club there must be others. Together we filled out all the paperwork, convinced our principal it was a good idea, and set to work making fliers and buying snacks.

Over the course of a year every poster we put up was ripped down. Twice, I caught upperclassmen scoffing at our work before tearing the posters from the walls. Only one poster survived because after being torn down once our sharp-eyed librarian made it her business to keep it on the wall and unharmed.

It didn't matter because word got out and people began showing up. We'd sit and talk about anything we wanted. We'd never had a club before and didn't know what to do, but we knew we could just talk. We came up with grand schemes.

"Let's buy out a movie theater and play RENT."

"What if we protest the football games for that time the quarterback called us fags?"

"No, we need to have a stand at the school fair where we give out resource materials and condoms."

"Our school doesn't have a school fair."

"Oh. Fine, we'll just hand out condoms. Take that school board."

None of these plans ever came to fruition but it didn't matter. We had somewhere to meet, somewhere to talk, and somewhere to be who we wanted to be without fear of being teased. I, having been too stubborn and the size of a high school student while in elementary school, had never felt the physical side of bullying. Instead I got to see the effects it had on those who either identified as LGBT or had been labeled that way by others. The pain each time someone talked about being called a cruel name, or being shoved in a locker was palpable.

Bullying is a serious issue in our society. Many times people will laugh it off saying, "Boys will be boys!" or "That's just the way teen girls act." But these bullies are leaving marks on the minds and sometimes bodies of children who will grow up to fear being themselves. Some don't even get to grow up.

Yesterday, to honor those who have committed suicide after being bullied for being LGBT, people across the nation wore purple. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) made the request that people wear purple and dubbed yesterday, October 20th, Spirit Day. On our campus many people took up the cause, which would explain all the purple you may have seen yesterday.

On behalf of Intercultural Life I would like to send out my thanks to those who participated and to those who didn't but still stood behind the efforts of GLAAD.

And as for the club started back in my high school? It fell apart not long after its president graduated, but that didn't stop one freshman from stepping forward and letting me know that the club had been something amazing. He told me that in that brief time he got to see that people could accept him for who he is and who he wanted to be. It encouraged him, and all of us, to stand up to anyone using "gay" as an insult.

Perhaps you, dear reader, don’t support LGBT issues. Perhaps it doesn’t mix well with your upbringing or religion or whatever. But surely that doesn’t mean you can’t support the idea of being true to who you want to be. I have met many people in my life and the ones who feel they can be open and honest about who they are linger longest in my memory. And I hope that because I do not fear being who I want to be, I will linger in their memory as well.

Consider as you go forward today, or tomorrow, or any day in the future: "Am I allowing those around me to live their lives how they want?" If the answer is yes, then thank you.

Have a wonderful day,

Izzy

Body Image

When we hear body image, we almost immediately think about women.  How women are treated because of their bodies and the negative views of the media.  But what about men?  Don't men have bodies too?

This year Love Your Body Day will be held on Oct. 19th. While love yourbody.nowfoundation.org is a great resource, and worth looking into, this educator has a problem with their sole focus on women.  An article titled, "Masculine gender roles and differentiation: Predictors of body image and self-objectification in men" talks about how media and other factors influence men, just as they influence women.  While both sexes feel pressure, they feel it in different ways.  Men often feel pressure to be muscular and strong whereas woman feel the need to be thin (Schwartz,Grammas, Sutherland, Sifferet,Bush-King, 2010).

Unfortunately, these concepts have some truth.  As an athlete I understand the desire to be thin, muscular and strong.  However, there is a fine line between being healthy and being self-destructive. The problem with this is, who's the judge? Who sets this standard, this unreachable goal? We often blame the media. It's the media's fault that they portray such skinny girls and bulky boys as ideal.  But it's not truly the media's fault, I feel its more of a cycle.  We criticize celebrities for having the "ideal" bodies, and complain how ridiculous it is to look like them, but when the public sees a normal body shape, they criticize that too.  

While there is no true solution to the problem (at least not a quick fix) of these "ideal" images floating around, we can change what we're going to do about it.  We can change our own view of body image and how we see ourselves.

Intercultural Life will be doing an event in honor of Love Your Body Day (tentatively) Tuesday, October 19th in Maytag from 11-1:00.  We will have a table set up where you can make your own button to show how you are changing your perspective about body image.  If we create a positive image of ourselves, we can hopefully creative a positive image for everyone. 

We hope to see you there.

Your Intercultural Educator,

Shannan O.