I was recently miffed about a friend of my mine constantly antagonizing his sister for 'being angry' all the time. Even though she is a young teen completely misunderstood, full of raging hormones & suffering a medical condition, as if things aren't tough enough for her already-she must also face the scrutiny of her peers in high school. High School.
Being young has never be so fun.
I could never understand why my friend as being so ridiculously ashamed of & cruel to his poor sister.
I read quite an interesting article on JEZEBEL about Meagan Fox; how the media and public perceive her and the truth of it all. Beforehand, I was very hate-filled towards Fox (not hate-filled but a good amount of biased opinion was held against her on my part) until I read this:
"People seem to get pissed that their sex symbols have to come with opinions, and like, emotions, and things to say. Fox is dismissed by Bay and the media as an attention whore, an egotistical bitch who just wants to find something to complain about so people will look at her. However, when Shia Labeouf insulted Michael Bay (and Stephen Spielberg, and George Lucas), he was just an honest young man with an old soul. Fox, you see, is similarly famous but also desired, so she should have nothing to be upset over. Surely a woman's needs and problems can't go deeper than that! She just wants attention.
Middle-schoolers and the media have a lot of difficulty believing that when a woman is upset, it's honest and real and not an attempt to fish for compliments because, well, why should she have anything to be upset about? Or maybe people can see some of the anger or sadness as real — but it's just so much easier to brush it aside. Women are just whiny, y'know? They'll get over it.
And so, apathy.
Gender becomes such a vital part of how we judge others, and the idea that a girl's anger is irrational is instilled, and then the girl with the eating disorder or the girl who cuts herself is ignored or scrutinized for having feelings and wanting help. It has to be realized that if a woman or girl is upset about something, it's not just because she wants attention. And if she does want attention, maybe it's because she wants care. Is that something to dismiss? What happens when we do dismiss it? I'm not sure I want to know."
I can totally agree with this writer, I had a hard time growing up (who didn't?) and not everyone handles their life and life situations a certain way. Everyone handles their life differently, and given my friend's sister has it harder with her condition-it's not very logical of my friend to dismiss her attitude as "oh she's pissy all the time, it's just mood swings" instead of helping her solve her problems or unresolved issues by talking it out. I also think it's selfish of my friend to be too afraid of his sister lashing out on him given the fact that this is how he has been treating her for years; why would she expect better behavior from him anyways? Depression doesn't go away overnight and I for once, can vouch for that. I think it's tough enough to be scrutinized by society everyday of your life but family should be the one place you should be able to turn to without being called a 'bitch' or 'moody'. When turning to family, acceptance and tolerance should be expected, not cold heart-ed judgment.
We have feelings too, sometimes we just want them validated or perhaps even helped. I really wish my friend would stop judging his sister for her actions-because these actions are sorely based on these feelings she can't express without being criticized. It's a harsh world out there and we don't need more judges or jury to give us the death sentence.
[article by: tavi]
[source:jezebel.com]
