In our TCO2 workshop, we consider how the media plays a role in influencing our understanding of gender. Media depictions of men and women; boys and girls, can inform us of how each gender is expected to look, dress and behave.
In 2011, many problematic representations of women were found in popular media. We saw Lady Gaga take the female sex symbol to a new level of raunch, surpassing her pop princess predecessors to break records for most scantily clad pop star and least interested in censorship for her young audiences. Gaga epitomizes a focus of sexually explicit celebrities from reality TV stars like the Kardashian’s, to music’s biggest hit-makers like Katy Perry and Ke$ha, to silverscreen actresses like Megan Fox and Kirsten Stewart. Breaking Dawn, the third installment of the Twilight movie series and this year’s tween blockbuster, depicts a helplessly lovestruck Bella, so transfixed by her male suitor that she sacrifices her humanity to join her lover’s eternally tortured ranks as a vampire.
The argument must be made that we have regressed in some ways from our gender equality initiatives of the 80’s and 90’s. And while pop culture staples like Gaga may seem to show more sexual agency, compared to the passive portrayal we have seen for so long, this self-objectification can be seen as equally if not more harmful for young women’s body image and self-worth. While it may seem to empower Ke$ha to claim her sexual autonomy through raunchy music videos, perhaps this is only setting a new standard for young women. Now, not only should we be impossibly beautiful, we should also be “sexy, sexually knowledgeable/practiced and always ‘up for it’.” (Gill, 2008) This issue of the sexually objectified representation of women in the media (whether passive or active) is a tired one; yet we still must ask: How are these depictions informing our youth? Below is a video clip of the trailer for the new documentary, Miss Representation, which explores this question pertinently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gkIiV6konY
In our workshop, we discuss how these images and representations of women can affect our self esteem, our sense of worth, and our understanding of how we are valued. In short, they can make us feel vulnerable when we inevitably cannot meet their impossible standards for beauty and sex appeal. And Canadians agree. A national survey in the Girls Action 2011 report shows that 87% of Canadians feel that the media puts too much emphasis on young women being sexy and not enough on their abilities and intelligence. We brainstorm with students how these depictions might make a person feel when they don’t fit the narrow mold of gender roles set by the media’s standards. We also talk about how these representations can affect the way boys and young men believe that girls should look, act, and be treated. Ultimately, these depictions make it unsurprising that there is a notion of entitlement to female bodies in the issue of sexual exploitation.
With all this in mind, we encourage students to hone their media literacy and to be critical of the depictions they see of women and girls in popular culture. While pressures may exist to interact and present our gender in a certain way, these expectations only limit us from being comfortable and safe in our own skin.
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Tags: child and youth sexual exploitation, children, media, media influence, sexual exploitation, tco2, youth
Raising Humans by Meghan Toal
It is important that I open by expressing this simple and genuine statement before I share any other thoughts: I love this work. As a former Youth Workshop Facilitator and ‘soon-to-be’ former Program Coordinator for Children of the Street Society I cannot entirely express how fully I believe in, and am invested in the importance of prevention education and youth empowerment through dialogue and the development of critical and creative thinking. That said, after four years of working intensively within the area of child and youth sexual exploitation prevention and intervention it can become impossible not to begin to see the world through a distorted lens. When constantly playing witness to some of the world’s greatest cruelties and the deeply entrenched pathologies which continue to oppress our society’s most vulnerable, it can be challenging to not become cynical, paranoid and fearful about the possible challenges that lie in wait for our youth.
Considering that statement, it should come as no surprise that when I recently discovered that the first child that my husband and I would be having in February would be a boy, at first I felt an almost shameful sense of relief. Although it must be recognized that both young men and young women can certainly be victims of violence and sexual exploitation, when I thought about the additional challenges faced by women, and the over representation of girls and woman as victims of violence, sexual and otherwise, I did feel a sense of relief that the little bean in my belly would perhaps not be automatically challenged by these systems of oppression. This sentiment settled in my head: ‘it’s tough to be a girl’. Once this initial thought landed my obvious next thought was what does it mean to be a boy and, beyond this raise a man? This thought brought a flood of panic that was triggered by an epiphany. I had been naive to think that the tough job was raising girls and strong young women within a system that constantly works against our efforts to lift up and empower them. No. The real challenge is actually in raising boys within these same oppressive systems to be better men.
Needless to say, I have become overwhelmed by this responsibility. In the realm of sexual exploitation prevention work, one of the most consistently presented and agreed upon principles is the idea that the most dominant root cause of the sexual exploitation of youth and the buying and selling of humans for sex is the existence of a DEMAND. It has almost become cliché within our line of work to outline basic supply and demand analogies to address the issue of sexual exploitation, but I will draw on this example regardless: without customers driving a market for sex we would not see individuals and businesses looking to make a profit off of the buying, selling and abuse of bodies. We know that the statistics suggest that MEN are predominantly responsible for the purchasing of men, boys, girls and women throughout the sex trade; however, we spend our time working to equip young people and those involved in survival sex work with the skills and smarts to keep themselves safe from violent and predatory men. I can’t help but acknowledge that this exclusive focus is misguided. I believe that Children of the Street Society has come to acknowledge this and work to address youth within workshops who may be potential exploiters throughout the school based workshop program. As a community, however, the onus cannot continue to be predominantly put upon victims to keep themselves safe, but instead we must work harder to raise a generation of men who do not feel entitled to unlimited access to the bodies of others.
It must be said that it is equally short sited to then place the onus on boys and men to turn things around and just ‘be better’. At the end of the day we as a culture, and believe it or not that means ALL OF US, are responsible for the dysfunction that exists in our society, including our predatory and entitled men. Yes, it is tough to be a girl, but I am beginning to realize it is also tough to be a boy. When we continue to perpetuate archaic gendered ideologies wherein women’s bodies and sexual prowess construct female value, paired with an expectation of hyper masculine performance through strength, assertiveness and power from our male population, is it really any wonder that we create not only vulnerable young women, but also an army of young men who see woman as sexualized objects awaiting consumption and measure their own worth through their frequency of and ability to consume sex? Ultimately, we do not make it very easy for our young men to reconstruct their identities and values after any other shape. I want my son to want more for himself. I want him to want to be more than this and know that he is more than this, but he can’t do it alone. It is my hope that through his observation of mutual respect demonstrated by both his male and female parents, along with having father who cooks all his meals (thanks B 
) and a mother who plays soccer and has never lifted a spatula, he will not be bound to the social expectations of his ‘man-ness’. The reinvention of our boys will also require a systematic overhaul of our cultural approach to socializing BOTH our boys and girls and it must be a social movement. When mass media messaging constantly contradicts our efforts to generate change in gendered expectations it truly requires a pulling together of parents, teachers and role models to help the next generation of boys ‘unlearn’ the parasitic social habits that lead to oppression, sexual exploitation and violence.
Ultimately, I’ve now come to realize that it’s not about raising ‘strong girls’ or ‘better boys’ it’s actually about raising smart, empathetic ‘humans’, which with the help of an organization like Children of the Street Society– who are already fighting everyday for this change– I feel hopeful that my son will get to be whatever kind of man and human he wants to be. I am thankful to have been a part of this effort over the last 4 years and will continue to be inspired by the work of Children of the Street Society, and all of our partnering organizations who relentlessly ‘fight the good fight’, throughout my professional and personal endeavors.
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Tags: children, children of the street society, minors, sexual exploitation, youth
Welcome to our final instalment of our Youth Art Engagement Project! Today we will be featuring artist statements from Larissa and Andrea.
The following projects and artist statements are pieces that were created by each facilitator and the Program Coordinator that reflect a personal response to the sexual exploitation of children and youth throughout our communities.
Title: It’s Time, by Larissa Maxwell
Medium/Materials: Spoken Word, voice
It’s Time..
To address the elephant in the room.
We might be looking, but are we really seeing?
The babies, the children, the youth who are being
Sold
And then bought
Abused
And exploited
It’s Time..
To start calling this what it really is, I have a few suggestions
Present day slavery
Captivity of the vulnerable
The prey of grocery store predators, high society abusers, and online slavers
It’s Time..
To look in the mirror- is this really someone else’s problem?
Or do we all hold a share in the blame?
For over sexualizing an entire society
For telling young men to get theirs at the cost of everyone else
For showing young women they are only good for one thing
For normalizing violence- think about it for a second…
cuz tank tops should be called wife beaters
Great things naturally should be called pimp
If something’s sweet, it makes sense to call it dope
Does that make sense to you?
It’s Time…
To do something
To say enough is enough and stand up
To inspire generations to use their VOICE
To make the choice
Cuz It’s Time..
To stop buying sex
To stop demanding
To step out of self centered living
To see the vulnerable with compassion instead of sexual appetite
It’s time…
To recognize our part
To from here on out refuse to participate
To revolutionize core fundamental premises of our society
To give every child a chance in this world…
It’s time
It’s time
It’s TIME
This spoken word piece is inspired by my own sense of purpose at this point in our employment. It’s often overwhelming to face in the world and within myself the issues and factors that are breeding grounds for exploitation. I am often frustrated by my own buy in to certain systems, language, and ideas that cause such dehumanization of others. It’s time for me to deal with I, both inwardly and outwardly, and play my part in stopping the mistreatment of the vulnerable.
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Title: Obstacles, by Andrea Krakan
Medium/materials: Sculpture, Molding Clay
The piece I have created is a representation of overcoming obstacles. This piece was created using molding clay, water and clay tools for shaping and detailing. I hoped to represent an individual who is facing numerous barriers, as with many people who are facing sexual exploitation. The idea with the sides of the clay looking almost like mountains was to show the barriers we all have, and the large tear shaped structure in the middle represents the person, and the reason behind representing them as a tear is purposeful. Where there is exploitation, there is often pain. Where there is success, there is happiness. Often we as humans reflect pain and happiness with tears, tears of joy or tears of sorrow. It is interesting to me that our representation of opposite emotions is sometimes the same. Each mountain or barrier that is shown depicts that very paradox once again. In order to feel love we have to understand hate, and hateful things. In order to understand strength we must feel weakness or vulnerability. To understand hope we must feel despair. TO feel powerful we must feel powerless sometimes. Last, to understand faith we must feel helpless as well. I write the words on the outside of the mountains to representing having to overcome barriers and obstacles to feel the rewarding things found on the outside. The important thing to realize is the size of the tear shape as it is large for a reason. No matter how large or overpowering our barriers may be, we as individuals, no matter the size of our pain are always bigger and stronger than our obstacles, which is why we have the power to overcome them and acknowledge that our failures alongside our success make us who we are, and we need both sides of emotions to understand our times of failure and our times of success.
This was a glimpse of the hard work that our workshop facilitators prepare for before delivering it to thousands of youth across BC. In particular, YAEP will be delivered to different groups and schools in Vancouver this year. Thank you everyone who read this – we really hope you enjoyed the showcase of our “behind the scenes” projects. Please comment and share your thoughts on the pieces that our team have created.
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Hey guys! Today we will be continuing part two of our Youth Art Engagement Project segment. Yesterday Emily and Ian’s art statements demonstrated to us their creative expressions of the sexual exploitation of children and youth. Today, we will be showing you artists statements from Jaedyn and Megha so please enjoy!
The following projects and artist statements are pieces that were created by each facilitator and the Program Coordinator that reflect a personal response to the sexual exploitation of children and youth throughout our communities.
Title: Question Marks the Spot, by Jaedyn Starr
Medium/materials: Sculpture, hands and earth, specifically modeling clay on pink and red construction paper
I wanted to acknowledge the voices in sexual exploitation that do not get heard. The people who do not have a voice because they may no longer actually have a voice as a result of sexual exploitation. They may have been murdered or abused to the point that they no longer have the strength to break the silence and speak. This piece is to recognize these truths and that many voices will never be heard and perhaps never even speak. The lips with the line through them symbolizes this silence.
The question mark is to acknowledge that we cannot speak for someone else’s experience. We cannot fully understand someone else, let alone speak for someone else if we have not been in their shows. The lips and inner question mark are surrounded by a wall, composed of many barriers. These barriers contribute to the silencing and work together to divide us. The person who appears on the outside is upside down and cannot see as their lips cover their face. They are all talk and no see. This person is upside down because they cannot really see what is going on within the barriers and do not know that they are upside down because they cannot hear the silence, the voices that cannot speak. This person has a voice but is beside a question mark to symbolize all of the unknown that they are surrounded by. They use silence, voice and knowledge in this piece to demonstrate the information asymmetry within sexual exploitation.
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Title: Hot Mess, by Meghan Toal
Medium/materials: Acrylic, spray paint and collage on canvas
Recently I have been thinking a lot about what it means to bring a boy into the world and the way that this related to the maintenance of oppressive systems in our culture, particularly in regard to the role of men of privilege as oppressors in these systems. When I learned I was having a boy a few months ago I felt a shameful sense of relief. When through this work I am constantly faced with the negative outcomes of the oppressive gender binary on young women– those being low self-worth, hyper sexualisation and increased representation as victims of violence etc.– I felt eased by the potential that my child would not necessarily be inherently faced with these barriers and challenges. This, however, was a fleeting feeling that was quickly replaced with an epiphany wherein I realized the overwhelming responsibility of raising boys within the same oppressive gender system that stigmatizes women.
We constantly are addressing the demand created by predominantly men as being foundational to sexual exploitation and the sex industry. We discuss demand as the result of the way we, as a culture, socialize our children in particularly gendered ways and normalize unproductive dynamics between men and women. How do we combat the forces of mass media and hegemonic cultural understandings of gendered roles as a parent or educator in order to provide a child and opportunity to be anything or anyone they choose? It is an overwhelming prospect when real change will only begin when we start to socialize our oppressors differently and take responsibility for the pathologies that we produce. It is time for a social movement where young men and boys unlearn and are untaught the toxic gendered social habits that lead to not only women’s oppression but also their own.
This piece represents this struggle. I began by starting with a yellow base, a colour most commonly understood to be gender neutral. We all start as yellow; however, as we grow in the world this becomes complicated by our cultural understandings of men and women, wherein we enter the ‘hot mess’ that is gender identity. The black dot in the middle represents my child, and contains my fingerprint. As we grow the blue begins to swirl out from the black dot representing a prescribed gendered identity on a baby boy that can lead to oppressive behavior. The colour swirl represents my challenge as a parent to combat this assumption and expectations of a specific gender performance as a means of offering my son the opportunity for more and to be more. The colour swirls from blue to green to orange and finally to bright pink—a colour typically understood to represent the most feminine qualities. The overlay of collage represents the possible negative outcomes for our children if we fail in this re-socialization: a continuation of the individuals struggle to meet physical and social gendered expectations that lead to not only a disconnected identity but also violence and oppressive behavior where all parties, male and female, continue to invest in their own oppression.
Stay tuned tomorrow for our third and final segment, featuring artist statements by Andrea and Larissa. Thank you for reading and please tell us know what you think – we love to read your comments!
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This week, we will be taking some time to show you the work that our workshop facilitators prepared for our Youth Art Engagement Project. Today we will be featuring art pieces from Emily and Ian.
The following projects and artist statements are pieces that were created by each facilitator and the Program Coordinator that reflect a personal response to the sexual exploitation of children and youth throughout our communities.
Title: Untitled, by Emily H
Medium/materials used: Graphic Art, Microsoft Word
I created this graphic design piece based on the adage: “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. In the issue of sexual exploitation, there can be a strong tendency to look the other way, say “Not in my backyard”, and refuse to acknowledge it. I changed the adage, to acknowledge it. I changed the adage, to acknowledge it. I changed the adage, using the proverb ‘WE’, because this issue is not about ‘them’, but all of us. The light purpose swirl represents the smoke or illusion that makes this issue invisible. Behind it is an image of a child with their eyes, ears, and mouth closed. It is a haunting representation of the old adage. Both the text ‘sexual exploitation, it can happen to anyone’ and ‘WE DON’T SEE’ are in the colour fuchsia. They are in stark contrast to the black/white and muted purpose tones of the rest of the piece. This shows the intensity of this ignored reality.
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Title: Sex?
Medium/Materials: Collage, Hodge Podge and Magazine on canvas
This art work depicts the holistic and visions nature of sexual exploitation. It is titled ‘Sex?’ because the main point of the art is to display that sexual exploitation has little to do with sex, but rather, with power and the control of an individual in sometimes the weakest and most vulnerable periods of their life.
The depiction of a women and children covered in blood shows that sexual exploitation is harmful and not limited to a specific gender or age and can impact families. The depiction of Marilyn Monroe is included because she is a primary sex symbol in North American culture. Women may strive to obtain her image and what she has, but are young women doing this in healthy and age appropriate ways? Sexual exploitation is not limited to the sex trade and is essentially when a youth exchanges a sexual act for anything in return like: popularity, acceptance and belonging. These are intangible things that many youth struggle with in their day to day lives. Exploiters can take advantage of these vulnerabilities so I find it important to place an image of the North American idealized women.
Sexual exploitation is harmful and destructive to society as a while. This image cannot to real justice to the issue, but the goal is to send a message and open eyes towards the issue.
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Stay tuned for two more artist statements tomorrow! Please comment and tell us what you think of Emily and Ian’s art pieces. How do you express yourself through art?
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A unique art piece created by a former participant of last year's YAEP
Over the week of December 12-16 our Youth Workshop facilitator team has been gearing up for the upcoming Youth Art Engagement Project (YAEP) that COS will be launching in Vancouver in the New Year. The YAEP began as an incredibly successful pilot project in the Tri-Cities last year and we will be carrying out ‘Phase 2’ of the project in Vancouver in 2012. The project seeks to engage 4 groups of youth from Vancouver schools over the course of 9, 2 hour education and art production sessions. The goal of this project is not only to provide an intensive education on sexual exploitation, but also empower youth to utilize their important voices through social justice art which can lead to increased community awareness around this issue in their own communities.
Over the past week our facilitator team has not only been putting together the curriculum for this year’s project, but they have also been training to integrate art and various mediums throughout the project. It was important for the facilitators to experiment with art themselves and push their own boundaries and vulnerabilities so that they can fully understand what that experience will be like for students participating on the project.
Each day over the next few days, we will be showcasing our facilitator team’s finished work and their demonstration of the the YAEP. Stay tuned!
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As we enter a new school year, we are quickly being exposed to new and emerging trends/issues coming from the youth we are engaging with. One trend that we were already aware of, and something that has been prevalent for a few years now, is the extremely concerning LG issue.
As explained in a previous blog entry written by former facilitator, Amar Ghelani (http://childrenofthestreet.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/lg-parties-and-the-seeds-of-exploitation/), the term LG (Little Girl) is a label used by teenagers to stereotype young women (between the ages of 11-15) for wearing revealing clothing or perceived promiscuity. We have also heard of the term LB (Little Boy), a label given to young men (ages 11-15) who are also vulnerable. The second part of this equation is the LG Hunters- older youth who are targeting younger LG’s/LB’s to pressure them to exchange a sexual act with them. The exchange could be tangible, such as drugs or alcohol, but it could also be intangible, such as popularity or physical validation. Through conversations we have had with youth, we as facilitators have drawn a couple of conclusions about what is going on, and why this is a much bigger problem than we may think.
The first point we gathered, is that there is a huge power imbalance in this dynamic. These very young girls and boys are being targeted by much older youth (typically gr.11 and 12′s), which tells us that by there simply being an age gap, these young individuals are extremely influenced by their older counterparts. Instead of being mature, responsible role models, it seems that these older youth are reinforcing this “LG” behaviour by not only encouraging these young girls to dress and act a certain way, but further creating demand by engaging in sexual activity with them. We feel that because these young girls and boys are so vulnerable and inexperienced in the high school dynamic, they don’t even realize they are being exploited and unfortunately made fun of.
The second point we have gathered, is that there is limited empathy coming from our students. This feeling comes to us mainly from the older girls. When we asked a group of older girls why there is a lack of respect for these young girls, we are often told they disrespect them because, “it’s not our fault they dress like that and hook up with our boyfriends”.
When we present our workshops, we engage students in the idea that sexual exploitation is everyone’s issue, not just those who are involved. Similarly, the LG/LB dynamic is also everyone’s issue. We are now encouraging youth of all ages to see this for what it is:
Exploitation in our elementary and high schools. By comparing the LG dynamic to the sex trade, we believe we are opening their eyes to a much bigger problem. The sex trade would not exist if there wasn’t a demand for it- LG/LB’s wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a demand for them. We seek to inspire youth to become respectful, compassionate and encouraging role models for these young people. We are asking them to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, maybe if they modeled how to act and behave, LG/LB’s wouldn’t exist. Rather, there would be the development of mature and responsible young adults. We feel that by taking the word LG and projecting it to a bigger issue like the sex trade, we are showing students that the repercussions of their predatory behaviour can lead to a much more serious problem. We ask them, “what do we call a 35 year old man who is interested in 13 year olds?” They typically respond with, “pedophile”. So we ask them, “What happens when these young men, these LG hunters who are actively seeking out these young girls, get older and become the 35 year old who is still interested in little girls? Or even if they aren’t attracted to LG’s but they build a pattern of behaviour that is exploitive towards women?” Then we see the concern in their eyes.
When we tackle issues such as the LG dynamic, we are never blaming our youth for what they are doing or what is happening to them. We seek to draw out the issue and highlight how it reflects something much larger. It is everyone’s problem, therefore we all have to be part of the solution. We are all vulnerable at some point in time and we have to recognize these vulnerabilities in each other and choose not to prey on them. It’s time to use our power in the right way to encourage others to be the best that they can be. Our students have just as much power as we do to create change and fuel the positive energy that is needed with an issue as serious and concerning as the LG/LB dynamic.
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Tags: children, lb, lg, sexual exploitation, youth
As Canadians we are frequently bombarded with images from the media, whether they are in the form of print, advertisements, television, or the internet. Although we might not consciously think about it, the pressing and constant exposure of media images does influence what we as people come to value. For example, advertisements on television attempt to persuade us to want and value certain products. While advertisements attempt to influence people in terms of what they want, I would like to also suggest the media seeks to influence people in terms of who they want to be. Specifically, I want to talk about how young men are influenced by male media depictions.
There is no doubt that men who are looked up to in the media portray a certain image. The male celebrities who are given consideration as “sexiest man alive” are often handsome, successful, muscular, and wealthy. In today’s music industry and pop culture, men are depicted in their images and lyrics as being tough, ballin’, dominant, sexually aggressive, and possessive. It is these men in the media, who leave the men of the general public with that “I wish I was him” feeling. Although men are not always portrayed in such an “idealized” way in the movies and television, let’s face it; the average guy would probably want to be the character that Brad Pitt is playing rather than the awkward teenage youth that Michael Cera portrays.
When presenting our TCO2 Workshop in high schools and elementary schools, we discuss the gender dynamics between men and women that we see in the media. In shows such as Entourage, and Jersey Shore, and movie series such as the The Fast and The Furious, men are often portrayed as sexually aggressive and dominant over women. Women are objectified and valued based only on their sexual attractiveness and body type. Especially troubling are the gender dynamics depicted in the music industry. Rapper Snoop Dogg, is notorious for dressing up and calling himself a pimp, with images circulating the internet of him holding female models by a dog leash. Rapper 50 Cent wrote a #1 hit song called “P.I.M.P.” whose lyrics include;
“Come get money with me, if you curious to see,
how it feels to be with a P-I-M-P… We could toast to the good life, girl we could have it all. We could really splurge girl, and tear up the mall.
If ever you need someone, I’m the one you should call.
I’ll be there to pick you up if ever you should fall.. I’m your friend, your father, your confidant.. ”
Is this the type of message that a male should value or want to embody? Songs like these misappropriate the activities and personality of a pimp as a man who is exciting and glamorous. We discuss with students the truth that pimps profit off of the abuse and exploitation of youth and children. They are not glamorous- they are sex offenders.
Media surrounds us in our everyday lives, so what happens when these ideas become commonplace and normalized? I suggest that these messages play a strong role in the dynamics we see around sexual exploitation. Contrary to the media depictions of the genders, men do not possess the right to dominate women physically, sexually, or by any other means. But, when we look at the sex trade (whether online or street level), women, youth, and children are viewed as objects who can be bought and sold at the convenience of men. This is the absolute epitome of the exploitative messages regarding the gender performances we see in the media.
While men in the media are depicted as having the characteristics described above, they are discouraged to portray other characteristics as well. It is considered unmanly to expose one’s vulnerabilities and weaknesses. It is unmanly to display emotions such as love and fear. It’s unmanly to have respect, and recognize that no means no. I argue that these are the types of depictions that need to be encouraged, as empathy and sensitivity are huge influences in the decision not to purchase sex and exploit those who are at their most vulnerable.
As humans living in an interactive society, we have to consciously become aware of who we are as individuals and question the influences to our values. Men do not have to aim to fit the mode of the “ideal” man that the media portrays. The media cannot depict the ideal man without depicting men’s relationship with women, and that relationship happens to be pretty dominating and sexually aggressive at times. Rather, as a society we need to work on building character, respect, empathy and compassion to break down the oppressive dynamics depicted by the media that could ultimately express itself in various forms of sexual exploitation. This year in TCO2, we have facilitated thought provoking discussion about what it means to be a man who respects vulnerability and uses power in a health way, and that it’s okay to not fit the media mold. We have hope that we will see change as we travel across BC to address these issues.
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Back to School by Jaedyn Starr
Returning to elementary, middle, and high schools as an adult is rather a unique and eye-opening experience. Unfortunately, it is a rare day that I walk through the hallways of a school without hearing at least one slur, let alone a number of them. These hateful words stay with us.
Most of us can remember cruel words that have been used against us or the ones we love. These may be derogatory comments targeting particular ethnicities, sexualities, abilities, genders, or social classes.
The language we are taught throughout our lives influences the way we interact with each other. And it subconsciously informs us of how we respect the people around us. In direct relation to sexual exploitation, this makes me think of words like: slut, whore, and prostitute. When these words are vocalized as insults, it does not only tell us information about the individual making the ignorant comment, it also indicates that this environment makes the person feel comfortable and safe to openly use these loaded words. I find the fact that so many individuals feel confident in elementary, middle, and high schools using derogatory language more disturbing than the way the language is used. Most of the people reading this article have spent a number of years in hallways where disrespectful language is spouted freely without understanding the implications of these words. We are shaped by the language that we hear.
I would be hopelessly naïve if I thought these slurs did not continue to be uttered by some well into adulthood. I am by no means suggesting that all of us share these hateful remarks, and we may not understand how language can hurt ourselves or the people around us.
However, even if we are not the individuals making these remarks, are we not partially responsible as people creating this space where individuals feel that it is acceptable to share their ignorance out in the open? These slurs make us vulnerable. Even if we are not the direct target of a particular hateful comment, such as “fag,” (which I hear almost daily as an insult between young men in our schools) a message is implicitly sent to everyone in earshot that this is not a safe place to be ourselves. This relates to sexual exploitation because the language we use as we interact with the people around us has the ability to create, maintain, or destroy feelings of safety and belonging. When this is not a safe place, these slurs will be vocalized more frequently.
In our TCO2 workshop, we discuss how we have the power to make the people around us vulnerable based on how we treat each other. One way we can protect the people around us from sexual exploitation is by respecting our differences, whether they relate to gender, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, class, or any other perceived difference. Confronting disrespectful language is one simple yet essential way to resist the oppression of such language and give signals that ignorant comments are not acceptable. This will prevent isolating the people around us. Isolation is one of the warning signs of sexual exploitation as it makes us more likely to seek validation, acceptance, and love through potentially dangerous avenues.
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Tags: abuse, back to school, bullying, child and youth sexual exploitation, children, children of the street society, cos, sexual exploitation, tco2, youth
Introducing… Andrea Krakan!!
1. What interested you most in being a TCO2 workshop facilitator?
There are a number of things that interest me in being a TCO2 facilitator such as; working in a collaborative team, travelling around BC to spread an important message, and creating a workshop that is by youth for youth. But, what interests me most about my job is the way we approach the issue and how we create an inviting workshop that youth like to engage in. Talking about sexual exploitation can be difficult at times, so the way we deliver the workshop and how we approach them is really vital. Education about sexual exploitation is key in protecting youth and giving them ways to stay safe and reach out.
2. Can you tell us a little about your previous training and experience?
Throughout grades 8-12 I was highly involved with my school. I was grade representative on the Student Council, as well as in Leadership class. I believe my involvement in these things vastly improved my high school experience and gave me a taste of public speaking, advertising campaigns, event organization, ticket sales etc. After highschool, I spent 2 years at Simon Fraser University studying Psychology and Criminology, and soon decided that a large University wasn’t for me. I took a year off to work as a Server at a Yaletown restaurant and eventually decided to try College as per advice of a good friend. I found a program at CDI College in Downtown Vancouver and earned a diploma in Addictions and Community Service. While searching for Practicums to complete my requirements for my diploma, I discovered Children of the Street Society. I was very lucky to earn a placement as a practicum student and there I was introduced to the topic of Sexual Exploitation. Following my practicum placement, I took a Youth Worker position at Family Services of Greater Vancouver Youth Detox and found not only a job, but a career for the future. When the opportunity came up to work with Children of the Street in 2011-2012, I saw it as a fantastic opportunity and also, a way to give a voice to the amazing youth I have the pleasure of working with at Detox.
3. What do you see as an important focus point to preventing the sexual exploitation of youth?
My favorite parts of the workshop are when I can look at these kids and be real with them. When we are presenting, there is a distinct equality that is felt in the room, there is no “us” and “them”, it’s just everyone having a dicussion in a safe space. I think the fact that we are close in age to them they can still relate to us, but also look up to us and learn. We encourage youth to show each other some love and break down the silence about really important issues.
4. What excites you most about the format of this year’s TCO2 workshop?
I really love the amount of media we have added this year. We are appealing to a growing screen generation so we decided to break the mould and do something exciting and new. I think the finished product is fantastic and the youth are really reacting in a positive way. We had a great time creating the videos, writing out scripts, and editing the footage. What’s really cool about it is, we talk about Vulnerability in the begining of our workshop, and how we are all vulnerable at some time, then we show the videos with us in it and the youth laughs and it shows them that even we can be vulnerable, so it puts us all on the same page right from the get go.
5. What’s your favourite part of being a workshop facilitator?
My favorite part of my job is that even on a bad day, I am able to look back on my day and say to myself “You did something important today, and you might have even saved someones life”. It’s an awesome feeling to be doing such important work with a fantastic team of individuals.
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