So I have been going through the GLSEN website for awhile now. I spent some time reading a bunch of other blog reviews and going back and forth through this site. Honestly. I'm shocked. I've always been a numbers guy. Then make everything easier to understand for me. Almost half of all transgender students reported skipping a class at least once in the past month (47%) and missing at least one day of school in the past month (46%) because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable. 47 and 46% of students afraid!!! The idea of those percentages alone scare me!
What really ticks me off is the first "number" i read. 90% of transgender students heard derogatory remarks, such as "dyke" or "faggot," sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year. These terms really get my blood boiling. I hate hearing the name faggot or dyke. No matter how many times terms such as those enter my ears, my skin can't seem to stop crawling. "Gay" was a term that I mostly heard in a negative sense back in school. I had one teacher who would hear this term and yell, "My Brother is Gay, what's wrong with that?" I could be wrong, but i think everyone is getting way too comfortable with all of these terms. I remember back in elementary, the meanest words were like "jerk" and such, which today don't even cross our minds because they are so meaningless. Now a days it seems like Gay is an essential part to every teenager's "dictionary" and never in a good sense. They always yell that this is gay, and that's gay, that lesson was gay and all other inappropriate ways. I know I was even guilty of that until my teacher made me realize that gay doesn't have a negative meaning at all.
These terms are becoming more and more apart of our vocabulary. Nobody realizes just how much they hurt people. And the people being called them, can't stand up for themselves or else they'll just get beat up themselves or worse. This world is becoming a terrifying place to be apart of unless we start doing something now. GLSEN has so many programs which help address anti-LGBT behavior such as the day of silence, which I do remember being practiced in my High School in warwick, and No Name Calling Week, just to name two of the programs. I think programs like these should be practiced in every school. Even if it was like one week for every month of classes. We need to all become aware that all people are born the way they were and there is no reason to single them out for that very reason!!!
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but this world is becoming a scary place. Especially with technology now a days. Harassment isn't something that is just done in school, or even just in person. Who hasn't heard of cyber bullying. Whether it be threatening text messages or facebook comments, or just mean blogs written about you, it is impossible to avoid being bullied depending on your situation(gay, straight, lesbian, transgenders). Am I the only one who sees this as a major problem???
What really ticks me off is the first "number" i read. 90% of transgender students heard derogatory remarks, such as "dyke" or "faggot," sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year. These terms really get my blood boiling. I hate hearing the name faggot or dyke. No matter how many times terms such as those enter my ears, my skin can't seem to stop crawling. "Gay" was a term that I mostly heard in a negative sense back in school. I had one teacher who would hear this term and yell, "My Brother is Gay, what's wrong with that?" I could be wrong, but i think everyone is getting way too comfortable with all of these terms. I remember back in elementary, the meanest words were like "jerk" and such, which today don't even cross our minds because they are so meaningless. Now a days it seems like Gay is an essential part to every teenager's "dictionary" and never in a good sense. They always yell that this is gay, and that's gay, that lesson was gay and all other inappropriate ways. I know I was even guilty of that until my teacher made me realize that gay doesn't have a negative meaning at all.
These terms are becoming more and more apart of our vocabulary. Nobody realizes just how much they hurt people. And the people being called them, can't stand up for themselves or else they'll just get beat up themselves or worse. This world is becoming a terrifying place to be apart of unless we start doing something now. GLSEN has so many programs which help address anti-LGBT behavior such as the day of silence, which I do remember being practiced in my High School in warwick, and No Name Calling Week, just to name two of the programs. I think programs like these should be practiced in every school. Even if it was like one week for every month of classes. We need to all become aware that all people are born the way they were and there is no reason to single them out for that very reason!!!
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but this world is becoming a scary place. Especially with technology now a days. Harassment isn't something that is just done in school, or even just in person. Who hasn't heard of cyber bullying. Whether it be threatening text messages or facebook comments, or just mean blogs written about you, it is impossible to avoid being bullied depending on your situation(gay, straight, lesbian, transgenders). Am I the only one who sees this as a major problem???
