The Cafe at On The Issues Online Magazine is deepening the conversations by continually adding the insights of progressive writers, thinkers and artists on the topics we address. Check back frequently for new commentary. If you wish to contribute to the Cafe, email cafe@ontheissuesmagazine.com.

We’re now taking comments in The CAFE! Join the discussion.

 

Back to Cafe Home

 

 

Youth Videos Push Back Gender Violence

by rebecca s. a. connie and Tara Malik

---

When TOMS Attack is the name of a short video created by Global Girls in Chicago to describe the problem of sexual harassment and assault by mature men who prey on young girls. The males are the “TOMS” of the title, which stands for “Thirsty Old Men” who terrorize girls by following them in cars and on the street, attempting to pick them up. One visual in the film says: “These nasty creeps try to get me in the sheets … In reality they know I’m just a child, but in their sick fantasy, I’m a piece of meat.”

The video was made in conjunction with Chain of Change, a Chicago-based project that works with youth to end gender-based violence through media and activism. Chain of Change, in turn, is the creation of the Chicago nonprofit, Beyondmedia Education, a group that harnesses the media as a social-justice organizing tool for women and youth.

Since its inception in the fall of 2007, Chain of Change has worked with over 20 youth organizations to create their own videos addressing gender-based violence. With pre-production discussions and production guidance, the youth plan and create the videos themselves. Once completed, the videos are posted online to inform and educate others about youth perspectives.

The completed videos touch upon topics of street violence, domestic abuse, online predators, sexual harassment against people with disabilities and more.

In one video, young men and women, interviewed about what they think causes men to act violently against women, describe insecurity, cowardliness and physical advantage. Youth from the Center on Halsted, Chicago's LGBT community center, joined with the Chain of Change project to look at violence against members of the transgender community.

A video by a youth group, Kids Off the Block, presents an honest discussion about unspoken rules that can affect how young men react when confronted with a domestic violence situation. According to the “rules,” young men should not intervene in a violent situation if it involves family members or if the female is the aggressor. The one “rule” identified that allows a young man to intervene is if the violence occurs in public with individuals they do not know.

Another video created by an all-girls youth group addresses why and how girls bully each other, examining girls as both aggressors and survivors of violence. The film demonstrates examples of girl-on-girl violence and describes methods of mediating conflict.

At a forum about the video in August 2008, one girl shared her experiences with bullying. She said:

They were picking on me because I was in a chair and I was different from them. So from the 3rd grade to the 6th grade, they picked on me, took my book bag, emptied it out, called me names -- stuff like “cripple.” And one girl even took it as far as to push my chair over and even took the wheel off. I think I could have prevented it from going any farther if I had told my teachers or even went to the principal. But I was afraid to go because they told me if I did, it would be worse the next time. So I just never told anybody. One day the principal was walking around the school like they always do, and I was getting my books out my locker when this one girl pushed my hand into the locker. I went into the principal’s office and then she asked had that ever happened before, and I had to tell her because she asked. I think if I had just told from the beginning, it could have gotten better instead of worse.

The forum where the girl spoke was part of a Youth Media Summit, a follow-up program in which all of the Chain of Change video groups shared their films with each other and joined in workshops about creative ways to enhance social justice causes through the use of photography, radio, spoken word and zine-making. Next year, the forum will go national, part of an effort to help youth around the country better understand the implications of gender-based violence and assert leadership in their communities.

Decmeber 29, 2008

Back to Cafe Home

---

rebecca s. a. connie is program staff and co-coordinator of Chain of Change at Beyondmedia Education. She strives to use filmmaking as a tool for activism, education and communal solidarity. Tara Malik is program staff and co-coordinator of Chain of Change at Beyondmedia Education. An educator and organizer of youth photography programs, she helped form The New Orleans Kid Camera Project and co-founded the non-profit, One Bird. For more information about the Change of Change program, contact Tara at tara@beyondmedia.org.

Also see Media Tools Counter War Violence by Ariel Dougherty in this edition of On The Issues Magazine.

See The Poet’s Eye with poetry by Kirsten Rian and Juditha Dowd in this edition of On The Issues Magazine.

---

Comments

---

Join the conversation. Leave a comment.

All comments will be reviewed before being published. This is a space for thoughtful and critical commentary; any personal attacks, abusive or offensive language, off-topic comments or comments that may be harmful to the conversation or to readers will not be published. *All fields required.*

 

---

 

CURRENT ISSUE
Winter 2012

Realities of The Waiting Room: Constantly Shifting by Lori Adelman

Anti-Abortion Harassment and Violence Still Stifle Access by Eleanor J. Bader

We're Not Sorry. Still. by Jennifer Baumgardner

The Poet's Eye From Poetry Co-Editor Sarah Browning

Calling Black LGBTQ Institutions: Where Are You? Where is Reproductive Justice? by Jasmine Burnett

Privacy at Stake: Patients, Clinics and Electronic Medical Records by Corinne A. Carey

Can We Choose Move Forward on Reproductive Justice? -- And How? by Ayesha Chatterjee and Judy Norsigian

"Love Means Second Chances": Reproductive Freedom in a Novel by Susan Elizabeth Davis

Satirist's View: Same Old Dilemma, or The Virgin Rebirth by Susie Day

As Access Slides, Feminists Need to "Extract" From Our Self-Help Past by Carol Downer

Abortion: On The Issues Magazine - by The Editors

How Anti-Abortion Protesters Got Me: Letter From a Young Activist by Sarah Flint Erdreich

The Grand Folly of Focusing on "Common Ground" by Gloria Feldt

Before "Roe": Legal Battles, Involuntary Servitude, My Mom by Justine Goodman

Next Generation Access: Medical Students Fill A Void by Mary Lou Greenberg

The Power of Theater: "Words of Choice" Touches Hearts by Alexis Greene

Where the Reality of Abortion Resides: Intimate Wars by Merle Hoffman

Gone Too Far? Reproductive Politics in the Time of Obama by Carole Joffe

Lila Rose: A Sweet Face to Accompany Extreme Anti-abortion Claims by Kathryn Joyce

Glorifying the Fetus While Ignoring the Fetal Environment by Margie Kelly

Reframing Compassionate Care: Of Madame Restell and Other Outlaws by Jeannie Ludlow

Helping Bloggers To Help: Tips for Reproductive Health Organizations by Amanda Marcotte

What To Do When They Say Holocaust by Carol Mason

"Silent Choices": African American Women Open Up on Film by Faith Pennick

Fine Thoughts On Fertilized Personhood by Marge Piercy

Heading Toward Menopause, Still Caring about Abortion by Andrea Plaid

Letter to a Young Activist: Don’t Drop the Banner by Barbara Santee

Redefining Chutzpah: More Bad Ideas to Burden Women by Aram A. Schvey

Sharing the Wealth of Knowledge on Abortion by Ria Sen and The Feminist Press

An Abortion Miracle? Let's Try the First Amendment by Priscilla Smith

Related Stories: Bold Discussions of ABORTION in On The Issues Magazine by The Editors

The Art Perspective: Ursula O'Farrell curated by Linda Stein

Student Think Tank

Winter 2012 Index