Tag Archive for "high school"

Posts Tagged high school

High school student’s “rape culture” artwork banned from showcase for being “inappropriate”

Censoring a student’s artwork exploring rape culture out of a concern for “the children”? Yep, that sounds about par for the course for the US educational system.

Gracie Holtzclaw, a high school senior in South Carolina, was one of the young artists selected to display her work at the Greenville County Schools Art Exhibition this month. She told local outlet WYFF that she was really “excited” to be part of the event. But just a few days later, 18-year-old Holtzclaw was informed that her submission, which is entitled “Rape Culture,” wouldn’t be permitted to appear in the show.

“This piece, for both title and content, was determined to be inappropriate for the District Show because the artwork is on ...

Censoring a student’s artwork exploring rape culture out of a concern for “the children”? Yep, that sounds about par for the course for the US educational system.

Gracie Holtzclaw, a high school senior in South ...

By Sesali B. • 10 years ago

Are sexism and pay disparities sending women to college?

I was raised by an educator. My Granny was a teacher and my sister followed her career path, later becoming an assistant principal. Growing up I wasn’t disciplined for too many things was disciplined the most for fucking up in school. If my mother or grandmother got word that I was even late for a class too many times I could expect to grounded swiftly. For my parents (my grandmother was one of my parents), education was the righteous path and college was the promised land. When senior year of high school came around I had already decided which school I wanted to go, which ones I would apply to so I’d have options, and which program of study I ...

By Lori Adelman • 10 years ago

Friday Feminist Fuck Yeah: Senior Male Athletes at Phillips Andover

Phillips Academy Andover, more commonly known as Phillips Andover, is a prestigious and highly selective boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts whose students are known more for the high acceptance rates to elite and ivy-league universities they enjoy than for feminist activism. The high school’s Wikipedia page (yes, it has a long and elaborate one, having been established in the damn 1700’s), for example, boasts that “in recent years, Andover has sent the largest number of its students to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Penn, Columbia, Princeton, and other top-tier colleges ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Why are teenage rape survivors being driven to suicide?

*Trigger warning*

Just days after Rehtaeh Parsons’ death comes news of an eerily similiar case.

Like Parsons, Audrie Pott was 15 years old when she was raped by classmates at a friend’s house. A photo of her assault was also spread among her peers. A week later, Potter committed suicide after posting on her Facebook wall, “The whole school knows. My life is like ruined now.” Last week, about seven months after her death, the boys who assaulted her were arrested.

As Alexandra wrote after Parson’s death, we’re collectively to blame for creating a “world where it is no longer shocking when victims of sexual assault and harassment commit suicide.” Alexandra noted that we need to stop considering rape to be an inevitability–and intervene before violence ...

*Trigger warning*

Just days after Rehtaeh Parsons’ death comes news of an eerily similiar case.

Like Parsons, Audrie Pott was 15 years old when she was raped by classmates at a friend’s house. A photo of her assault ...

By Vanessa • 13 years ago

Michigan high school drops “King” and “Queen” homecoming titles

Over the last few years, attention has been brought to a number of cases where transgender high school students were elected for Homecoming King or Queen but not allowed to claim their title because of their gender identity. Via the Advocate, we find a Michigan high school has decided to eliminate the titles altogether:

In an attempt to be more inclusive of its entire student body, administrators of a Michigan high school have decided to drop “king” and “queen” from its homecoming royalty titles, opting instead for gender-neutral titles.

Transgender student Oak Reed (pictured) was elected homecoming king in September 2010, but the school denied him his crown because he was ...

Over the last few years, attention has been brought to a number of cases where transgender high school students were elected for Homecoming King or Queen but not allowed to claim their title ...

By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

Australian state pours funding into anti-homophobia programming for high schools

My home state of New South Wales has just announced the launch of a new program designed to combat homophobic bullying in high schools. The program, Proud Schools, will be trialed at 12 high schools around the state, and will combine training for teachers with workshops for students and for parents.

It’s a welcome initiative: according to recent findings from the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, high school is an especially challenging time for queer youth. About two thirds of queer or questioning students reported experiencing homophobic verbal abuse, and one in five reported physical abuse. Almost all those who suffered this abuse said that it made them feel unsafe at school. And in Australia as in the ...

By Jos Truitt • 13 years ago

Student cut from high school football team for wearing pink cleats

Coy Sheppard, a Mississippi high school student, has filed suit against his school district after he was kicked off the football team for wearing pink cleats.

Seriously.

Oh, and the cleats were given to Sheppard by his great-grandmother and worn in honor of her and Sheppard’s grandmother, both cancer survivors, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

For real.

Coy Sheppard, a Mississippi high school student, has filed suit against his school district after he was kicked off the football team for wearing pink cleats.

Seriously.

Oh, and the cleats were given to Sheppard by his great-grandmother ...