If you didn't know this month is national anti-bullying month. The reason iI know this is because I participate in a program at my school called Girl Talk. This program is when high school girls mentor middle school girls that are having trouble with not only bullying or other issues. One day this week I ended up seeing a video of a news anchor and how she got a nasty email for a man judge her on her appearance. The station showed the email and allowed her 5 minutes to address the issue. While watching this I not only felt sorry for the lady being called overweight, but more because he thought her weight gave girls the wrong idea on how they should look. That angered me because I feel that girls can be any size and happy with themselves. In my mind sometimes not always being super model thing makes you a role model or a happy person. He should not have wrote this letter because not only did he make her feel bad but others that may struggle with their weight. Another point that is used against him in my eyes is that he said he has never watched the show before. That made it like he was only judging her on her exterior, and that is not right. When she addressed the email I felt a sense of pride for her because she never once pitied herself, but made it about kids that were being bullied like that. After watching the video I felt ashamed of my society, but the fact that she addressed the issue in a professional mannar and made it more about kids made me feel a sense of pride. That there is a group of people out they willing to work hard to stop bullying, and make this place a better place to live
That is really interesting! First off, I had no idea that this month was anti bullying month. I honestly did not know that it even existed, yet I am extremely happy to find out that here is a whole month dedicated to the awareness of such a critical subject. Also, I think it is really cool that your high school has a program that helps out with the issues of middle school people. I think we can all remember how middle school is. Everyone is trying to fit in, discover who they are, and this can often cause a lot of issues that pertain to bullying. I kind of wish my high school had a club similar to that because I could have, and everyone else as well, could have used some sort of supportive program like that! I mean, we have all been bullied at some point in time of our lives. I, obviously, am not a girl, but I can still highly relate to the societal standard and gender roles that are wrongfully established by society. Similar to the “gender roles” of women in society, men often are pressured into being the “macho” and “manly” stereotypes in life. Those who don’t follow this standard are often bullied, and this quite frankly frustrates me. Honestly, I am not the most feminine person around, nor the most masculine, but any stray from pure manliness is automatically called out in an instant. I find it extremely aggravating that people often have to change themselves in order to fit societal standards. That is just something that, no matter how hard I could try, agree with.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't know that this month was anti-bullying month. I have to write a paper for psychology class on anything we want to that is related to psychology. I decided to choose Bullying and the mental and physical effects it has on people. I think it's really great you're involved in that program at your school and talking to younger girls about the issue. I wish when I was in school they had a program like that. It seems like a lot more lately being picture perfect is the new fad and if you don't dress a certain way or look a certain way then you're not good. I, myself, struggled with wanting to look a certain way and was getting verbal abuse from people, mostly guys. It really had a big effect on people's lives a lot more than they think. I'm a real big fan of Demi Lovato and everything she does to help against anti-bullying. I saw this really awesome video someone sent me on Facebook you should check it out. It was a girl that was auditioning for the X Factor and she struggled with bullying and in the song she sang you could literally feel her pain she went through, I literally cried watching it, it was so touching. It just shows how much pain people really go through when they are bullied and the people that do it don't even realize the effects it can have on people. Keep doing what you're doing and being involved in the group you're in because it truly i'm sure is having a positive outcome in the younger girls.
ReplyDeleteHello Hannah, First let me start of by saying that I love your name. I would now like to say something on the anti-bullying comment that you made. My son is in the fifth grade this year and he is going with the middle schools for the first time. He has already come home on several different occasions in tears over what someone has said about him. My son is little over weight and he is such a mommas boy add the fact that he is a big nerd does not help. I try to tell him that he is a good person and for him to not change who he is for anyone, I tell him that someday he will see when he gets the good job because he worked hard in school and then one of the people that gave him a hard time in school will be asking him for a job opportunity. I tell him when he gets older he will see that who your was in high school has no out come on who you will be when your grown. I tell him that he is the only one that can make that chose. I want him to grow up to be a good person and know that it is who you are in life not what you look like but, I don’t want him to thank that being overweight is ok I want him to be health to. It’s hard enough to teach your kids who they should be when everything else is telling him the opposite. Well that’s all for now good subject to comment on thanks.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea it was anti-bullying month, but knowing that I think it is awesome that they have a month dedicated to that. There is so much bullying that goes on and it is really sad that kids and even adults are so rude, it makes me really disappointed in our society because I do not think it was this bad before. Reading your post made me sad that someone would write a letter about that. One, because that guy knows nothing about that woman’s life, she could have a health problem or a psychological problem or maybe she is just comfortable and happy in her skin. I also think it is ridiculous that he would say that it is sending girls the wrong message because runway models or super models send the wrong message too. Girls are always going to have things thrown at them about their appearance they just need friends and family that help them realize that the norm is not always correct and that you should be happy with the way you look and embrace it. And it is really sad that it was his first time watching and he felt like he needed to write her a letter about her weight. If he has comments like that he should keep them to himself because sending it to someone just shows how ignorant he is and poorly he was raised.
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