Exclusion: It's Not Okay
Do you remember being a little kid and hearing teachers and parents tell you that it's okay to be different and that everyone is like a special, unique snowflake? It seems like as we grow up, we lose our faith in that statement. Now it's not okay to be different. I know there are a lot of articles here about emo-bashing, but one more won't hurt anything. Besides, this one's personal.
I've experienced emo-bashing first-hand from being disliked and shunned myself, just this year. It started with a more popular girl who used to hang around me; let's call her Callie. I had thought she liked me. Callie was nice to me, and invited me to sit with her in classes. She even offered to give me a total make-over. She wanted to cut my brown hair and dye it blonde, put me in cutsie clothes, get rid of all my dark eyeliner, and give me a French manicure. I declined the offer, wishing to remain the way that I really am. Callie stopped inviting me to sit near her. She would walk past me with her friends and point at me, laughing. Thankfully, I had my own real friends.
Later in the year, it started to get worse. A male student arrived at my school. His "name" was Lars. I want to make it clear right now that I did absolutely nothing to Lars to make him angry with me. He would yell insults at me every time he saw me. I was almost constantly slammed with "Freak!" "Emo bitch!" "Suicide!" and the likes. Lars didn't stop there. Every time he passed me in gym class, he would mutter, "I'm gonna kill you, fucking emo bitch." It was always loud enough for my friend Alicia (not her real name) and me to hear, but not the teacher. I can only hope Lars goes to a different school this fall.
The worst part of all of this? High school is a popularity contest, not only among the students but also with the teachers. Teachers play favorites with the popular kids. Those kids never get into trouble. The kids who aren't popular are the kids who are always victimized, and nobody helps. The kids who ask for help get as much as the kids who don't tell anybody what's happening: absolutely none at all.
Regardless of age, race, sex, or orientation, most kids don't ask for help. It actually seems like a mistake when we do. My science teacher was the only one who seemed to actually be on my side. I told him what was going on with Lars, and he was able to get Lars suspended for two days. Unfortunately, Lars was even more hateful towards me after his suspension. I'm pretty sure it was a mistake to ask for help when I knew there was only one person willing to do it, and that one teacher wasn't going to make a difference in the minds of the rest of the staff.
My point here is that it's not just the media and our peers supporting this emo-bashing trend, but also the schools we attend. I guarantee there are plenty of people out there who've had the same kind of treatment I have from their fellow students and teachers.
It's not okay, I promise.
