By Katie Cherven
The Tower
Grosse Pointe South HS
1st Place Division 2, News Writing
Feature Columnist
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Sharp attention-getting leads
- Expresses personal opinions; uses consistent style
- Reflects thought/research, freshness, individuality
- Effective use of facts/quotes or supporting material
- Informative, interesting, entertaining
- Upholds journalistic integrity
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly
- Proper diction/grammar
Each year, roughly 1.5 to 3 million girls and women are victims of gender-related violence, according to a 2005 UNICEF and Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces report. This comes in the form of gender-specific infanticide, in-home discriminatory behavior, victimization by sexual offenders, honor killings, acid attacks, domestic violence, rape, sexual exploitation and trafficking. Despite making bold strides for gender equity worldwide, especially in the past century, this international femicide continues to plague our world based on a widespread, long-standing and global commitment to the suppression of women.
And yet, I still hear arguments against feminism, the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes. I’ve encountered countless people who contend that, in 2020, there is no need for a dedicated movement that advances the status of women.
But the number one cause of injury to American women is domestic violence, and, 76 percent of the time, it is women rather than men who are victims of domestic violence, as found by a U.S. Department of Justice report on non-fatal domestic violence from 2003 to 2012. A woman in America is beaten every nine seconds, according to the Center for Disease Control.
These attacks are so drastically slanted against women, so the feminist movement must be all-encompassing to properly assess this humanitarian crisis.
Though it is often portrayed or discussed as a movement against men, modern feminism actually argues for a reorientation of the gender roles and biases in our modern culture that endanger women, men and other genders. Feminism argues against the archetypal female portraits that have been canonicalized throughout centuries of world history; the wide-ranging roles of the lower-intelligence gender, incompetent sex, object for sexual gratification or weak or belligerent woman.
Of the 116 mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. since 1982, 112 were carried out by males (as of December 2019) according to the Statista Research Department. On a more quotidian scale, the U.S. Department of Justice found, in 2007, that 75.6 percent of all violent crime offenders were male and 20.1 percent were female. In 2017, men died by suicide nearly four times more often than women, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Many professionals, including Colman O’Driscoll, former executive director of operations and development at Lifeline, a charity providing suicide prevention services, attribute some of the cause to expectations of males in modern society; limited emotional sensitivity or a mentally detrimental ‘tough’ persona.
Feminism longs to disrupt the norms that encourage gendered violence, and, subsequently, disrupt the cycles of harm that affect every gender.
Feminism does not exist to further the suffering of men; it exists, and has always existed, to right the wrongs that are committed against half the world’s population. As Rebecca Solnit asserted in her 2013 essay, The Longest War, “Women’s liberation has often been portrayed as a movement intent on encroaching upon or taking power and privilege away from men, as though in some dismal zero-sum game, only one gender at a time could be free and powerful. But we are free together or slaves together.”
Our democracy is founded on free speech– in and out of the classroom. But the blatant promotion of a political campaign undermines this principle wholly. When a flag bearing the words ‘Trump 2020’ and ‘Keep America Great’ was flown at the North v. South football game on Oct. 18, not only were our school rules broken, but our constitutional principles were disgraced.
I welcome and fully believe in student political participation. Our voices are necessary parts of the political process for the unique perspectives they offer. Personal endorsement of any candidate for office, whether it be school board, congress or our presidency, is a sign of a lively and aware young population that will turn out to vote and participate when it’s most needed.
However, checks on our power exist in certain forums. In a public school district with policies in place eliminating ability to promote a candidate for office, the display and show of a 2020 campaign flag on school property or by a school-sanctioned club at a football game is not allowed. This policy is in place to protect the views and opinions of students falling across the political spectrum.
When a specific candidate is promoted in such a way, it gives the impression that the school and district are endorsing that candidate. Considering our public school status, this is extremely unethical. As a whole, our school cannot and should not promote any political position. The policy protects our school and our student body from assumptions and potential legal issues.
If the flag had bore a message supporting Trump as president without promoting his 2020 campaign, it could’ve flown.
But it is worth considering, outside of the legal ramifications, what effect the display of this particular flag has on the atmosphere of our recreational football games and on our student body. Inside and outside of the oval office, Trump has promoted certain ideals and messages that have, in numerous incidents, incited violence against specific groups.
In an August 2019 article titled ‘No Blame?’, ABC News compiled 36 cases in which someone had invoked Trump as inspiration for their violence, threats or assaults since 2015. It’s also worth noting the potential for many more instances in which an assailant was not prosecuted. As someone belonging to a marginalized group, I understand the fear that some feel when they see a red MAGA hat pass them on the street or a ‘Keep America Great’ banner waving in the air.
Thanks to the conservative culture stoked by Trump that hyperbolizes ‘liberal snowflakes’ and ‘safe spaces’, victim-blaming is very much in-style. Rather than address why someone may feel uncomfortable or frightened, we shame and make fun of them, further embracing and encouraging potentially threatening behaviors.
I ask that my fellow students consider the ramifications of their choices before they make them. I’m not looking to steal your MAGA hat or burn your banner, but I am looking for compassion and an attempt to understand the feelings of those around you who do not believe in the same creed.