Schools, ranging from elementary and CEGEP, contain more violence than we are aware of. Schools and school boards are more concerned about their reputation, so they keep fights and violence in the dark. Jennifer McGuire, an author, wrote an article involving school violence and why CBC is taking interest in this topic. She mentioned that the team at Marketplace was looking into students being physically and mentally harmed at school. They realized that most students experience forms of violence without seeking help or telling anyone in an authoritative position. A more comforting approach has to be taken in order for students to share their experiences and confide in people who could potentially help them.

For the sake of CBC, the firm Mission Research conducted a survey. 4,065 students, between the ages of 14 to 21, participated in this survey. More than half of the responders were at least 14 years old, but younger than 18 years old. In a direct quote from the article, “41 percent of boys say they were physically assaulted at high school; 26 percent of girls say they experienced unwanted sexual contact at school,” (CBC). However, it was also stated that, in Ontario, 77% of schools have no reported violent incidents (School Violence, 9:09). This is evidence that secrets are being kept, in order to not harm a school’s reputation. We need to care more about the safety of the students and victims, rather than how ‘good’ the school looks to the public. Many parents are clueless about the reality of violence at the school their child(ren) attend. The data needs to be accurate and shared so that a solution is found. 

As we learned from the previous statistics, 41% of boys and 26% of girls experience violence at school. The violence presents itself in different ways, based on the gender of the individual. “Institutions are themselves gendered. Institutions create gendered normative standards and express a gendered institutional logic, and are major factors in the reproduction of gender inequality,” (Kimmel, 2-3). For boy students, while emotional and verbal violence may occur, violence in schools is most often in forms of physical contact. I believe this is due to the fact that men have to fight in order to be considered masculine or manly. Sadly, the violence girls experience in school is often of a sexual nature and considered unwanted harassment. 

The amount of students who have experienced violence in schools higher than it should be and not much is being done about this probelm. Schools and school boards are not exposing or even recording incidents of violence. In my opinion, school boards do not even know how to deal with these situations. The problem cannot be solved if the people in charge do not know how to deal with it. Some students do come forward and they still do not receive the help that they feel is necessary.

Students should feel safe when they attend school, they are there to learn and not experience violence. It is also worried that schools do not do enough to prevent incidents. CBC is working hard to investigate more situations involving school violence. Personally, as a student who has experienced violence in school, I feel as though more should have been done. I did reach out to someone with authority, and close to nothing was done in this situation. The schools really do care more about their reputation, rather than the problem. In many cases and in mine, the school is very quick to swipe events like this under the rug.

Resources:

Kimmel, Michael. “Masculinity.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 1-5. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 June 2014. 1-5. Print.

Why CBC Started Looking into Violence in Schools, CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/school-violence-editors-note-1.5331402.

“How To Fight For Safer Schools.” School Violence. CBC, 24 October 2019.

During International Women’s Week, our class attended two presentations. The first was entitled “Climate Change, Pipelines, and Violence Against Women” by Lucy Everett and Jen Gobby on March 2nd. These two women addressed issues that indigenous women face, how climate change affects women, colonization, residential schools, intergenerational trauma, current man camps, organizations, and more. The later was ‘Living in the Shadow of Law 21’ presented by Nadia Naqvi and Laïty Fary Ndiaye on March 4th. Both of the women are Muslim, Nadia chooses to wear the hijab, while Laïty, who is a woman of colour, decides not to wear it. Nadia spoke about how, as she is a visibly practicing Muslim, she has faced Islamaphobia in Quebec. Laïty also shared her anecdotes and opinions on Bill 21.

The women spoke about global warming, climate change and the effects that it has on indigenous people and their practices (i.e. hunting and fishing) in Canada. Canada is also a huge emitter, and it was mentioned that indigenous people should be included in the decisions that involve nature. Lucy and Jen said that 80% of people displaced by climate change are women (UN). They also discussed colonization as gendered oppression. They went over negative stereotypes that target indigenous people (i.e. addicts and incompetent), the Indian Act, residential schools, ‘child welfare’/the sixties scoop, forced sterilization, and policing and the criminal justice system. Lucy and Jen also shared images of indigenous women on the front lines of the climate crisis and of resistance to extractivism. By the end of the first presentation, the goal that came across was that indigenous men and women should be allowed to have a say in discussions that surround their lands and territories. 

In the second presentation, Nadia, a science teacher, went into depth regarding Islamophobia before and after 9/11. She shared personal stories from her childhood, events she had experienced and also acts of violence her father had gone through. Nadia got married a few days before 9/11, she was in Canada while her husband was not. The immigration process usually takes 8 months, but theirs took 3 years because her husband is a Muslim man. She made it clear that she is unable to move up with her profession due to her religion, while her other coworkers may achieve a higher status. She is a good teacher and doesn’t want people to judge her teaching by her religion. Laïty is a black woman and she chooses not to wear a hijab, which is a choice she’s allowed to make and it does not mean that she is less Muslim than women who wear it. 

Throughout all of our class readings, the theme of male stereotypes is present. Both of these seminars went over some stereotypes. Lucy and Jen mentioned some for indigenous men and women and how this excludes them from the table-making decisions. They are expected to be lazy drunks who don’t have anything to offer when it comes to serious issues. Nadia and Laïty went into detail about stereotypes for Muslim men and women. A common one that Nadia shared was how people assume all Muslims are terrorists, and her father even had to suffer from acts of violence. The readings are often about how men have to be and act a certain way in order to be considered a man, which are gendered stereotypes. The presentations consisted of racist stereotypes.

I interviewed one of my close friends, Katigi. He is seventeen years old, black, straight, and not ashamed to care about his friends.

Q: Why are you close to your friend? Be specific.

A: “We share the same outlooks on and goals in life and we just vibe (are at peace) together.”

It is clear why Katigi considers whoever he was thinking about as his best friend(s). They share emotional support and emotional intimacy, which are important aspects of relationships and friendships.

Q: What kinds of things do you like to do together?

A: “We play basketball, eat together, go out (driving, etc), talk about what we need to talk about, and play pool.”

His answers were refreshing because these activities step outside of the stereotype box. “(…) activities such as watching or talking about sports, playing video games and “bar” games (e.g., billiards, darts), and joking around, but not having intimate conversations.” (Kilmartin & Smiler, 161). While Katigi and his best friend(s) do play sports and billiards, they also incorporate sharing their emotions into these activities. They are not ashamed to express themselves, all while participating in the occupations they enjoy.

Q: Have you ever told your friend how much he means to you? If so, what did you say and how did he react? If you have never told him how much he means to you, why not?

A: “Yes. I’ll say, “Je t’aime,” (‘I love you’ in french) to them and they will say the same thing to me.” 

“I’ve asked men to describe their relationships with their best male friends. (…). The social stigma of homosexual love denies these close relationships the validity of love in our society. This potential loss of love is a pain of homophobia that many men suffer because it delimits their relationship with other men.” (Lehne, 246). While many young boys and men fear expressing their emotions to avoid being labelled as homosexual, Katigi does not have that problem. He even said, “Everyone has emotions and people who disagree are immature.” While some members of society believe that men cannot be straight and still discuss their feelings among their friends, people like Katigi disagree.

Kimmel states that, “Institutions accomplish the creation of gender difference and the reproduction of gender order through several gendered processes.” This quote indicates that males and females’ roles in the workplace or educational institutions are constructed by their gender. He mentions the example of studying medicine and becoming a doctor and how it takes several years to complete their studies. “Such a program is designed for a male doctor.” (Kimmel 3) To summarize his words, men have more biological time to spare because they are not expected to have children. Women who wish to be doctors would have to postpone having and taking care of children or not have children at all. The number of female medical students makes up for half of the equation, meaning this affects a lot of people who probably want to have children, but cannot. 

Kimmel prefers to take multiple ‘masculinities’ into account because he is aware that masculinity means different things to different people (different ages, nationalities, etc) and it is constantly changing. This is a respectable term that takes different people’s points of view into consideration. In the fourth episode of ‘Man Enough’, there were a handful of men who each identified ‘masculinity’ as something different from the last. This supports and relates to how Kimmel does not refer to masculinity as a singular definition, but as a multiple and plural definitions.

Jim Carrey has been a comedian, actor, writer, and artist since the 1980s. He is 58 years old and still very active with his roles and works. He rose to fame in the 1990s and has remained popular ever since. He is well known for his many comedic movie roles (i.e. The Mask, 1994 and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 2000). He defies the theme of status and achievement by not depending on his success in sports or his sexual conquests. Unlike several celebrities and actors who become famous by playing sports or being lucky with women, Jim Carrey made it to the top by being funny and genuine. He has earned the respect and admiration of all of his fans and everyone who has enjoyed his movies, all while staying true to his values and comedic acts.

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/actor/jim-carrey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Carrey

I found it very shocking that 1 in 4 young boys get bullied and only 30% of them notify adults. This data really spoke to me, in my opinion, these numbers are too high. The main reason that boys get bullied is for being feminine and lacking manly characteristics. The boys getting bullied cannot express themselves or confide in adults, making them feel lonely, depressed, and sometimes, suicidal. Boys can’t be sad without being considered a sissy or girly. Dr. Caroline Heldman explained how masculinity is reactive and that it is a rejection of femininity. Society has constructed being compared to a girl to be very offensive. It is acceptable for boys to be angry and mad because those are considered to be masculine qualities. A young boy has to be dominant, ready to fight, athletic, and emotionless. The research that a big percentage of boys are bullied and remain silent really concerns me. This caught my attention because personally, there has to be a change and these numbers need to decrease. My attention was also caught with what Dr. Heldman said about people not being born with masculinity, but it being a reactive way of coping with things. In order to truly insult a boy, he’s compared to being feminine, which indirectly dehumanizes girls and women. This, along with the bullying, has to discontinue.

My favourite experience of Carlos Andrés Goméz’s would be when he went to the Palladium on a Friday night (gay night). A drag queen was outside of the club deciding who could come into the function, that would have been a dead giveaway to me. New York City is like the city of drag. After interacting with the drag queen, Carlos still went into the club. There must have been a part of him that suspected something unusual about the club that night, yet he still entered. This event helped me understand his openness to sexuality, masculinity, and femininity. Most people would be conflicted when seeing a drag queen because it makes them question themselves and their views on gender. He was able to identify the person as being a drag queen and he didn’t have any negative emotions towards this person.

The man I have chosen for this blog post is Colin Kaepernick. He was the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, from 2011 to 2016 and he is 32 years of age. He is well known for not standing during the national anthem at football events. He is a political activist, and the reason he would kneel during the anthem was to challenge racial discrimination and police brutality. His actions had several thousand reactions, some were positive and agreeing with him, while others were not supportive, negative, and labeling his decisions as disrespectful. I find him inspiring because he did something powerful, knowing it would not be accepted by everyone or by most. He stood for what he believed in, while not standing for what others believed in.

Chinese food