“Schools all over America are searching for ways to respond to bullying, and especially some way to address the specter of gay teen suicide which seems to be connected to bullying much of the time, even if the connection is apparently hard to make for some school administrators. But some of the solutions they’re coming up with are better than others — some schools veer dangerously close to castigating bullied children rather than their tormentors, or making “gay” the root of the problem as opposed to “bullying” or “suicide.” And when hurtful norms of gender presentation and sexual orientation are reinforced instead of questioned, kids are only helped, not hurt.
“For instance, the Suffolk school district of Virginia is considering a ban on clothes ”not in keeping with a student’s gender” — and referenced the murder of Larry King to defend it as an anti-bullying measure. The idea is that if students wear “appropriately gendered” clothes, they will be safe from any and all cruelty that could be potentially visited upon them by their classmates. Why didn’t someone think of that before!”
I feel like I’m reblogging a lot today. x_x But this is another fucking important thing. Why? Just fucking read it, if you’re not frothing at the mouth, please go away forever now.
