Vancouver High School Students Protesting Gentlemen's Club
(Fact: I really like the elderly lady at the end of this video.)
This protest has stirred a pot in women's rights issues in Vancouver. I recently saw a post about this protest on Reddit and decided to throw my two cents in.
I understand that these students and their teacher have a particularly strong opinion about how women should be treated. Women in this particular era (particularly in First World countries) have been treated the best than they have ever been, BUT there are some definite issues involving the right's of women that need to be addressed still.
For example, The New Delhi Gang Rape that resulted in a woman dead and sparked outrage and violent protests. I use this large-scale issue against this small local Vancouver protest to compare their opinions and views.
First and foremost, let's dive into history and take a look at Women's suffrage. For those who don't understand what that term means, it's the right for women to vote and to run for office. Why did I bring this up? Well, because it's a prime example of giving someone choices. The option of even having a choice is pretty amazing. I like having choices! Don't you enjoy having choices? Everyone loves their right to a choice.
So what choices does the average, female exotic dancer have? The same choices that anyone has. And despite cliches and misconceptions, they aren't prostitutes or disobeying the law in any way. They aren't forced to dance for the men who walk in there. They aren't forced to have sex with them. In fact, many women who are doing this as a profession walk in wanting to dance. Why? Because expression of your sexuality is empowering.
I don't know a lot of women who are comfortable in their bodies let alone comfortable to let a group of people see them naked. You have to have a lot of guts to just let every person see you as you are. A few friends of mine are actually nude models for art classes... they strip down to their nudies and get drawn. Oh and did I mention that sometimes these drawings get posted around the school where they work? The difference between their profession and that of a dancer in a gentlemen's club is that they're there as an educational tool, but they too, were given the choice to be nude infront of a group of people. And quite frankly, no one has tried to picket this educational institution yet.
You could argue that I'm comparing nude modelling with sexualized dancing, but quite frankly, it's a pretty fair comparison considering my roommate is a model at the school and that rules and standards are set in place for her safety. Much like how rules and standards are set in place with most gentlemen's clubs. And that's why the women who work there feel safe doing what they do, why they made a conscious choice to do it and why the "Social Justice" class being taught in this Vancouver high school is wrong. Asides from the fact that they didn't even contact the venue and their entire argument is one-sided.
With that, why aren't these students doing something meaningful for social justice? The picket itself only allows and encourages whole mentality of WHY women aren't treated as victims but as the source of the criminal problem in the form of "she was asking for it!" Perhaps if those students were taught that this mentality is a part of why there's such a high rate of sexual abuse among women than they instead would be asking for donations for their local woman's shelter. Or perhaps petitioning for better education about sexual abuse, or against their local politicians about how they handle victim's cases.
Quite frankly, if they really wanted to look into the issue that they were diving into, they should have educated themselves about the New Delhi gang rape and the protests that were so heavily reported in the media. Although the protests themselves became rather violent and erupted in riot, what prompted the protest is relevant to what the Vancouver students are protesting.
What am I getting at? Women shouldn't be objectified, no, but they should have the choice to dress, earn an honest living and live free from fear of abuse. The choice to whether we should harm another human being or leave them be is a conscious choice. People aren't mind-controlled into raping other people. We should be telling our children that even though that person has made the choice to wear that skirt that we should still respect them and leave them alone with that choice. They don't deserve any ill treatment just because of what they do.
So, to end this huge blog post off... we all have choices, and we all need to make wise ones. It's not about our job description or what kind of clothing is draped over us, but how we want to be treated and how we want to treat others.
R.
This protest has stirred a pot in women's rights issues in Vancouver. I recently saw a post about this protest on Reddit and decided to throw my two cents in.
I understand that these students and their teacher have a particularly strong opinion about how women should be treated. Women in this particular era (particularly in First World countries) have been treated the best than they have ever been, BUT there are some definite issues involving the right's of women that need to be addressed still.
For example, The New Delhi Gang Rape that resulted in a woman dead and sparked outrage and violent protests. I use this large-scale issue against this small local Vancouver protest to compare their opinions and views.
First and foremost, let's dive into history and take a look at Women's suffrage. For those who don't understand what that term means, it's the right for women to vote and to run for office. Why did I bring this up? Well, because it's a prime example of giving someone choices. The option of even having a choice is pretty amazing. I like having choices! Don't you enjoy having choices? Everyone loves their right to a choice.
So what choices does the average, female exotic dancer have? The same choices that anyone has. And despite cliches and misconceptions, they aren't prostitutes or disobeying the law in any way. They aren't forced to dance for the men who walk in there. They aren't forced to have sex with them. In fact, many women who are doing this as a profession walk in wanting to dance. Why? Because expression of your sexuality is empowering.
I don't know a lot of women who are comfortable in their bodies let alone comfortable to let a group of people see them naked. You have to have a lot of guts to just let every person see you as you are. A few friends of mine are actually nude models for art classes... they strip down to their nudies and get drawn. Oh and did I mention that sometimes these drawings get posted around the school where they work? The difference between their profession and that of a dancer in a gentlemen's club is that they're there as an educational tool, but they too, were given the choice to be nude infront of a group of people. And quite frankly, no one has tried to picket this educational institution yet.
You could argue that I'm comparing nude modelling with sexualized dancing, but quite frankly, it's a pretty fair comparison considering my roommate is a model at the school and that rules and standards are set in place for her safety. Much like how rules and standards are set in place with most gentlemen's clubs. And that's why the women who work there feel safe doing what they do, why they made a conscious choice to do it and why the "Social Justice" class being taught in this Vancouver high school is wrong. Asides from the fact that they didn't even contact the venue and their entire argument is one-sided.
With that, why aren't these students doing something meaningful for social justice? The picket itself only allows and encourages whole mentality of WHY women aren't treated as victims but as the source of the criminal problem in the form of "she was asking for it!" Perhaps if those students were taught that this mentality is a part of why there's such a high rate of sexual abuse among women than they instead would be asking for donations for their local woman's shelter. Or perhaps petitioning for better education about sexual abuse, or against their local politicians about how they handle victim's cases.
Quite frankly, if they really wanted to look into the issue that they were diving into, they should have educated themselves about the New Delhi gang rape and the protests that were so heavily reported in the media. Although the protests themselves became rather violent and erupted in riot, what prompted the protest is relevant to what the Vancouver students are protesting.
What am I getting at? Women shouldn't be objectified, no, but they should have the choice to dress, earn an honest living and live free from fear of abuse. The choice to whether we should harm another human being or leave them be is a conscious choice. People aren't mind-controlled into raping other people. We should be telling our children that even though that person has made the choice to wear that skirt that we should still respect them and leave them alone with that choice. They don't deserve any ill treatment just because of what they do.
So, to end this huge blog post off... we all have choices, and we all need to make wise ones. It's not about our job description or what kind of clothing is draped over us, but how we want to be treated and how we want to treat others.
R.
