I never followed Glee TV series but it doesn’t mean I didn’t
heard about it; it was interesting seeing these 3 episodes and how they
portrait teenagers in “high school”, a lot of rivalry and competiveness take
place not just with girls but guys too. But one of the main focus of the last
two episodes was bullying in this case is Kurt who is being bullied by Karofsky
because he is gay. Bullying is a
big issue taking place in our schools especially among teenagers; unfortunately
we’ve seen more and more cases ending in suicide of these young victims. But
what are we doing as a culture, is there true consequences for the one’s
harassing?
Anyone who
pretends that our culture is not feeding this rash of suicides is deluded. We
still have national politicians calling gay people abnormal, and as evidenced
in these comments, there are clearly still parents teaching their children that
being gay is one of the worst things one could be. That kind of
"teaching" does not go unnoted. Just look at the gang in the Bronx
that targeted three gay people for brutal torture...bet they started by
bullying kids in school. I am always surprised when people think this issue is
a new one; Homosexuality and
bisexuality are older than human civilization. The ancient Greeks, for example,
were notorious for their varying sexual practices.
Furthermore, it requires the schools to respond differently. It's important for
parents to know if the school doesn't respond, they can file charges with the
state's department of civil right. One the positive side is that now is more
organizations promoting bullying awareness and guidance to parents on knowing how
to respond if his/her daughter is being a victim.
I agree with Linette that parents should know their rights and try to stop bullying.
ReplyDeleteReading your post it popped into my mind that there's something many of us (but not all, I believe I saw one or two posts mentioning this)who have blogged have not yet really meditated on and that's the fact that Karofsky represents someone who is so filled with self-hatred because his own desires conflict with the desires he's told he should have that he projects this hatred on to an easy target and reacts violently towards him. So, not only does our misogynistic homophobic society cause boys to pick on other men they feel are "failed" men for whatever reason, but it also makes it incredibly difficult for them to find any sort of self-acceptance if they don't fall in line with what is deemed "acceptable" by society.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I'm glad that there are more organizations that allow parents to get involved. Watching one's kid feel such torment and feeling powerless to do anything must be a terrible feeling that way too many parents have to endure, I'm glad there are more outlets for them now.
I completely agree with Andrea's analysis of your blog as well as Karofsky. It's interesting that such a stereotypically simple football playing jock really has this complex homoerotic secret.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andrea and Noelle, in a way Karofsky isnt the one who is bullied but i think would be the liekly one to be depressed and even sucidal, keeping such a secret from everyone and himself.
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