In recent events, serious
allegations of sexual misconduct have arisen and taken the spotlight in
mainstream media. More recently, the case against Larry Nassar has come into
focus. Dr. Nassar was a renowned doctor in the medical community, who slowly
led his way up the ranks and became the head doctor who dealt with many of the
female Olympic gymnasts. However, it was learned that Nasser had actually been
assaulting many of these gymnasts during medical examinations. This was a shock
to those who had been oblivious to the obvious: sexual harassment has always
been here, and it’s no longer welcome.
This violence has only become so
evident after social movements such as “Time’s up”, “Me Too”, or more recently
“Cover the Athlete”. The “Time’s up” movement began after a slew of women began
to expose their attackers via social media, describing what had been done to
them. This came after a year and a half of individual cases discussed on the
news. The “Cover the Athlete” began after audience and Olympians from Rio
noticed how interviewers would not focus on women’s accomplishments, but their
appearance and what they wore. But how does this affect teens? This clearly has
no correlation to me or you or any student attending high school.
And yet, it does.
Public schools are notorious for
letting people get away with things as simple as opening someone else’s locker
to having “fight weeks”. This, however, does not exclude sexual harassment
allegations. The provided articles below have given some insight into what
girls went through as they progressed in their high school careers. A
fourteen-year-old girl last month accused her gym teacher, Jim Whiteaker, of
grabbing her butt. The same teacher was accused in 1998, for a similar
occurrence, but it was only reported after graduation. Another girl, Shaneiko
Cummins, said that had happened to her in May of 2013. The experience was
described as “he grabbed my shoulder… I told him to let go… the doctor had
diagnosed me with a torn labrum in my shoulder… he told me to no go to the
nurse”. The principal had said to not go to police until the district
investigated the situation. The investigation never transpired.
In another case, a former teacher
of Passaic High School, Jose Maria, engaged in inappropriate conversation and
actions with two students, who have now graduated and reported the incidents.
Conversely, students are also to blame for the assault taking place. From
schools all across the country, girls have reported male classmates of grabbing
their breasts and buttocks, and forming gangs to “force [girls] into storage
closets and assault them”. Even scarier, elementary school boys creating a
Friday ritual of “slap a** Fridays”. In total, from years 2011 to 2015, there
were 17,000 reported incidents in the United States. Although this may seem
like all the cases out there, many are either scared to report it or might
classify it as bullying.
In a way, it does boil down to
bullying. “It’s just locker room talk” or “you’re just a girl; you don’t know
what you’re doing” are all forms of verbal and emotional harassment. So, why
don’t we treat it like bullying? Thankfully, schools are beginning to recognize
these situations. Now, teachers are promoting the idea of not letting someone
‘into your space’ without your permission. Or even more directly, teaching them
to not blame the victim. New Jersey administrations are also now recognizing
the abundant amount of cases being discovered, and are actually firing teachers
the minute the stories released. The justice system has charged multiple
teachers for their crimes, sending a message to incoming teachers that this is not tolerated. And more importantly, the
state government has taken it into their hands to propose bills that will
strengthen background checks on teachers and make it easier for students who
are still in high school to come forward.
Fortunately, I have never had to
experience this neither has any of my friends or anyone else (officially) at SB
has had to undergo the circumstances. I am also grateful that this movement has
finally taken place when it did, so I can watch change happen. The prominence
of this movement empowers teens to find our voices and speak up. And we know
that because of this movement we will be heard.
Maybe it is going to get better for
the girls and boys of this generation. Maybe, in a few years from now, they
won’t have to watch the news every day, wondering which teacher or which
celebrity has been accused of sexual assault. Maybe they’ll look back and laugh
at how idiotic all of this really is, pondering (and never having to
experience) the terrible cycle that is the behavior of humanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment