Queer
Bullying and Suicide: A New Perspective
The
abundance of queer youths who have committed suicide since September of 2011
have received an incredible amount of media attention. While bringing the
strife and struggle of queer youth to light is very important the media
coverage of this recent phenomenon has not been a completely positive practice,
portraying queer youth in a very limited and confining manner.
The first issue
is that these news stories broke after queer (and perceived queer) youth had
already committed suicide, and the focus and continuing attention grew with
every suicide, however comparatively very little focus was on bullying itself
until after five suicides in September 2011 (Meadow 2012). This shows the reactionary nature of the
media and how queer bullying did not become a newsworthy issue until a great
deal of tragedy occurred. Bullying is a major issue, especially within the
queer community, one that media coverage has picked up only recently and still
does not necessarily portray correctly or helpfully. Nan Stein brings up
several issues with how media as well as schools have dealt with bullying in
her article “Bullying, Harassment and Violence Among Students”. One major issue
is that many evaluations of bullying do not accurately account for sexual harassment
or gender based violence, a very important category as most youth who are
chastised for being queer are perceived and not known to be queer, so it is
violence based on gender expression (Stein 2007). Stein shows that bullying is
reported at 30% while sexual harassment was reported at about 80% in surveys
and research, one area of proof that labeling so many things as bullying is detrimental
and leads to underreporting, more abuse, and less cohesive consequences since
bullying can be characterized as so many things (Stein 2007). These issues and many other nuances of the
harassment and turmoil queer youth face are not explored by the media, likely
because they are intellectual and not easily sensationalized like other ways of
portraying queer youth. This leads to
another problem: the media possibly perpetuating queer youth suicide and
self-harm by only covering negative stories and not focusing on instances of
tolerance, success, or any other aspect of the lives of queer youth.
Media is often
considered to be a mirror, one that replicates our culture but it is undeniable
that the media also has a part in shaping our culture; from story lines on sitcoms
to news reports, media can have a big influence on how we view things. Unfortunately
the view of queer youth that news coverage and other media sources have focused
on has been incredibly limited and negative. This is upsetting because of a
phenomenon called “suicide contagion” which is when the publicizing of suicide
leads to increased suicide, however this can be combated with a change in media
coverage that shifts the focus from negative to positive, with new stories
focusing on resilience, strength, and tolerance in the queer community (Meadow
2012). While the mainstream media has not had much positive news on queer youth
the “It Gets Better “ Campaign has begun to put out a positive message for
queer youth. The problem with the “It Gets Better” Campaign is that it has not
acknowledged the “intertwining Isms” laid out by Barbara Smith in “Homophobia:
Why Bring It Up?”. The biggest criticism
of the “It Gets Better” campaign is that it does not explore the lives of queer
people of color or lower class queer people, rather focusing on how fame,
career success, and white privilege serve to erase many of the pains of
homophobia. This ignorance of the struggle of non-white, non-rich, non-male
queer people does nothing to address communities that already have a generally tougher
time due to beliefs like ones that Barbara Smith lays out as problematic. Beliefs that homosexuality only manifests in
white people, often leading to more stern, painful, and homophobic ideas of
sexuality in communities of color, as well as beliefs that gay people are never
thought to be poor, disabled, people of color, and often times women (Smith 1999).
These identities and their intersectionality all need to be recognized if queer
bullying, suicide, and other forms of oppression have a chance of being combated.
Bibliography
Smith, Barbara. “Homophobia: Why
Bring it Up?” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader Ed Henry Ablelove et al
New York & London: Routledge, 1993
Stein, Nan. “Bullying, Harassment
and Violence Among Students” Radical
Teacher 2007.
I have always questioned why the media never brought up the positive side of things when it comes to almost anything in our society, especially the positive things occurring in the LGBTQ community. The media does manage to only report on negative things, such as suicide, but only when it has accumulated to a point that should have never of been reached to begin with. This idea of “suicide contagion” where the depressing media has an influence on those that are already down brings up a point on how suicide is to a certain point almost encouraged as the only way “out”. I think that all of this should definitely be acknowledged, but the truth of the matter is that there should also be more media attention on the causes of suicide and ways to get rid of these causes. If light is shed on why so many teens, including LGBTQ members, are giving into suicide, then this can put an end to the suicide chain. Bullying and sexual harassment are some of the major factors that can push someone to their limit. If the media focused on just how much of an effect these actions have on individuals, maybe more efforts can be put forward on a way to stop it. Nan Stein does a great job on coming up with some way in which this can be put to a stop, such as “institute classroom education and curriculum that are long term” (Stein 2007) and have an emphasis on sexual harassment and bullying, as well as training all of the staff on better ways to stop bullying and sexual harassment.
ReplyDeleteStein, Nan. “Bullying, Harassment and Violence Among Students” Radical Teacher 2007.
For some reason our society has a way of only commenting on the more depressing and violent things in life. When it comes to something that is “news worthy” generally what will get more attention are the deaths, suicides, and violence. I completely agree with you on the fact that the media only started to report on violence against people in LGBTQ communities after the abundance of suicides took place. Yet I also believe that another reason why these bullying stories are being displayed more in media is because they believe that this is what people will want to read about. Yet the news articles fail to acknowledge how these violent acts and tragedies can be avoided through education. Like you stated on how bullying fails to acknowledge gender based violence is absolutely correct, but they also fail to acknowledge how these young teenagers and not being educated on LGBTQ issues. In media what is more important are suicides rather than the inadequate information. For instance in the article “Bullying, Harassment and Violence Among Students” Stein states how schools are against bullying but fail to actually educate students on why it is that they feel threatened enough to be violent (Stein, 49). Stein argues that with the introduction of classroom education, trained staff, diverse groups of people, and avenues to talk about harassment, strategies for resolution, parents involvement, etc. then this will give young teens an understanding of LGBTQ issues and get rid of violence all together (Stein, 51). Yet media fails to talk about the ways in which violence can be avoided because it’s not “news worthy”.
ReplyDeleteStein, Nan. “Bullying, Harassment and Violence Among Students.” The Radical Teacher
No.80 (2007): 30-35
I want to touch on a point from this blog that I found especially brilliant, where RJ analogizes the media to a mirror that replicates and shapes our culture (Thomson 2012). This concept is relevant in the conception that mirrors portray what is reflected within them; mirrors allow objects to become visible, displaying images that are generally assumed to be honest and true, as they are pure replications of visual prospect. Mirrors allow people to see, to become aware, and to alter things about themselves based off of undesirable perceptions. People use mirrors to put on makeup, to disguise their natural bags under their eyes and blemishes; or alternatively, to enhance, to apply mascara to thicken lashes, or accentuate certain prized attributes. The media similarly performs all of these functions in framing prize-worthy stories and accounts, thus having supreme ability in influencing our society by highlighting certain desirable visibilities, and masking issues of inferior recognition, such as the diversity of queer experiences and representation in the media (Smith 1999).
ReplyDeleteViolence based off sexual expression needs not to be disguised as bullying, as zero-tolerance bullying initiatives fails to recognize the role of gender expression within these increasing acts of targeted harassment (Stein 2007). Since the media is endemic in shaping our culture and values within, increased visibility among queer youth and the horrors they face being the repressed minority in a primarily (admitted) heterosexual environments (Rich 1995). The belief that these kids are being “bullied”, when in reality, they are being perceivably suffering harassment based off of gender expression that does not match the acceptance of their peers, portrays a hegemonic society that disservices queer youth in the lack of visibility and accurate representation in the media (Stein 2007). In order to change people’s negative perspective involving LGBT issues and experiences, the media needs to work with the intersecting identities prevalent in our society, in order to uplift our youth and combat violence and trends in suicidal contagion through empowerment, increased acceptance, and truthful reflectivity (Meadow 2012).
Rich, Adrienne. "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" from Professions of Desire: Lesbian and Gay Studies in Literature. ed. George Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmermann. New York: Modern Language Association, 1995.
Smith, Barbara. “Homophobia: Why Bring it Up?” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader Ed Henry Ablelove et al New York & London: Routledge, 1993
Stein, Nan. “Bullying, Harassment and Violence Among Students” Radical Teacher 2007.
Meadow, Tey. “Queer Children Are Dying… But Many More Are Living” The Huffington Post 20 Jan 2012.Web, 2 Feb 2012
I definitely agree that Youth have evolved to be an important demographic group that highlights an "age-ist" power dynamic in Queer media representation. A particular issue that is not brought up in the Thomsen article is the other problematic areas of the "It Get's Better Campaign". "It Get's Better" is a passive and reactive rhetoric that responds to the issue of "coming out" and youth bullying. This is problematic because the unconscious message tells youth that they will endure pain, suffer, and be helpless until they come to an older age. Queer media in youth audiences should instead take a proactive approach instead of addressing the queer youth after a number of youth have committed suicide while many others are still bullied at school. Although most recent "It Get's Better" videos have included a more diverse collection of testimonies and addressed the earlier lack of intertwining identities, the campaign itself fails to challenge main stream queer youth media coverage and falls short to create a Queer youth POSITIVE media coverage, that is finding the optimistic, diverse, and successful stories of queer youth and empowering them with useful tools of how to truly survive and thrive as a queer youth. The current media approach "It Gets Better" has on queer youth is similar to Nan Stein's first strategy for zero tolerance, that is, Stein suggested that the topic of sexual harassment, "and I like to also connect to "gender and sexual violence" can be integrated into the whole curriculum". (Stein, 51). Stein also covers queer youth concerns with a negative light that focuses on the spectacle of a crisis or emergency. Stein and "It Gets Better" both do not truly empower students with resources that will help culture, nurture, and develop their identities as queer youth. Instead, Queer youth media coverage is perpetuating a culture of fear in queer youth.
ReplyDeleteStein, Nan. “Bullying, Harassment and Violence Among Students” Radical Teacher 2007.