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The rise of high school feminism
At the door is a quote from American televangelist Pat Robertson: "Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practise witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
The quote is there ironically, of course. The teenagers congregating in D11 are members of Auckland's Western Springs College Young Feminists Club, who are here for an informal focus group. They're a bonfire – light the kindling with a question, and seconds later they're ablaze with chatter.
"I'm Posey," a member begins. "Some of the stuff that goes on in society and school gets me really worked up. Watching the typical day-to-day things, it's like, Oooh." Asked what "stuff" the 17-year-old means, and the group comes alive: catcalling, sexual harassment, feeling unsafe walking alone at night.
"The way women are portrayed on TV is a big thing for me," says Healy Jones, 17. "Watching shows where there's only one woman who's ditzy and can't do anything, that really pushed me to join."
The group came together last year after a wary few noticed a double standard in the school's dress code.
"We had some friends who were continuously getting pulled up by teachers, and it was really unfair: 'I can see your bra straps – you're a distraction,'" recalls the group's co-leader, 17-year-old Thomas Rands. "We had issues about the language teachers were using."
With two others, Rands set up a Facebook group then sent a notice around the school inviting students to discuss the issue. Come lunchtime, more than 40 teenagers had convened to go through the school's dress code, line by line. Senior management took their comments on board, and changed the wording of the policy. And, with that, the club was born.
"At first, I wasn't anti the group, but I wasn't 100 percent for it, because I was caught up in the mob mentality," says 17-year-old Marlon Drake. "Everyone is freaked out by the connotations around the name feminism.
The quote is there ironically, of course. The teenagers congregating in D11 are members of Auckland's Western Springs College Young Feminists Club, who are here for an informal focus group. They're a bonfire – light the kindling with a question, and seconds later they're ablaze with chatter.
"I'm Posey," a member begins. "Some of the stuff that goes on in society and school gets me really worked up. Watching the typical day-to-day things, it's like, Oooh." Asked what "stuff" the 17-year-old means, and the group comes alive: catcalling, sexual harassment, feeling unsafe walking alone at night.
"The way women are portrayed on TV is a big thing for me," says Healy Jones, 17. "Watching shows where there's only one woman who's ditzy and can't do anything, that really pushed me to join."
The group came together last year after a wary few noticed a double standard in the school's dress code.
"We had some friends who were continuously getting pulled up by teachers, and it was really unfair: 'I can see your bra straps – you're a distraction,'" recalls the group's co-leader, 17-year-old Thomas Rands. "We had issues about the language teachers were using."
With two others, Rands set up a Facebook group then sent a notice around the school inviting students to discuss the issue. Come lunchtime, more than 40 teenagers had convened to go through the school's dress code, line by line. Senior management took their comments on board, and changed the wording of the policy. And, with that, the club was born.
"At first, I wasn't anti the group, but I wasn't 100 percent for it, because I was caught up in the mob mentality," says 17-year-old Marlon Drake. "Everyone is freaked out by the connotations around the name feminism.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/life/68153551/the-rise-of-high-school-feminism
