Discrimination

Middle school girls are becoming cognizant of the effects of various types of discrimination that they may well have been unaware of in elementary school. Girls from ethnic backgrounds are called racist names, those of mixed ethnicity feel pressure to choose one race as the dominant one and often end up feeling as if they fit into neither group. Many girls expressed feelings of pride and an interest in learning more about their culture and heritage. A majority of girls felt that race should not be a factor in determining friendships, etc., and that they got along well with people of all races.

Girls are feeling the effects of sexism, as well. The general perception among girls is that boys and girls are treated differently by teachers in school. Middle school girls also feel that American society is male-dominated and that they are not quite good enough in the eyes of their communities. They believe they need to accept that boys will have advantages they are denied. They are also under pressure by the adults around them to do well in school and behave themselves like "good girls." They feel that the media helps to perpetuate the image of women as "sex toys."

There was also a strong feeling of being discriminated against because of their age and the way that they dress. Many had had experiences in which they were watched suspiciously in stores and shopping malls because it appears that adults believe that all teens are shoplifters. The fact that adults judge them by stereotypically derived notions regarding clothing disturbed some of the girls.

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What Some of the Girls Said:

• I think there should be no racism, because I mean we're all human beings. There's only one race, which is the human race. Some people look at me strange or they'll ask a lot of questions and they'll just act like I'm an alien or some new person coming from a different planet or somethin'.

• I'm black and then I got a little Indian in me, but I don't know how much. That's what I have to talk about with my grandma and my mom, to figure out what kind of Indian I am, about my culture. It's important to me about what my race is because you have to learn the culture. My grandma, she has traditions, ëcause she cooked or she does certain dancing that you have to learn, and so it's very important that you learn what you are. So you know in the future, if anyone addresses you wrong, you could just tell ëem what you are, so you don't have doubt in your mind about what you are.

• My race doesn't really affect me. I'm just happy to be the way I am but I would of course stand up for it because it's something you're born with, and you can't change, and you should be proud of it no matter what. There's only one of you in this entire world, so it shouldn't be like oh, oh my god, oh no I'm Indian or I'm Spanish, or I'm black or anything. You should just be proud.

• I don't think it's hard getting along with people of other races at all.

• It depends on what situation I'm in. If I'm in a group with a whole bunch of white people, I kinda feel lonely and left out because I'm the only colored person. Sometimes, being mixed with black and white makes me feel depressed because black people say I'm proper and I'm a wannabe white girl, and white people, they'll say I'm trying to be black, so it's kinda hard for me sometimes in-between cultures.

• I think racism is terrible and I don't think it matters what color your skin is, that doesn't change the person you are inside. I have a lot of different friends, I'm friends with Mexicans and Japanese and blacks and all that and they're just as good of friends as white people, I mean, I don't think it makes any difference at all.
  
  
• I didn't really experience a lot of racism in middle school, but I have a lot of friends who are minorities and I have experienced being around kids who have experienced racism and I kind of get the backlash because I'm friends with both groups. Some people who discriminate and some people who are discriminated against. A lot of people don't understand that it goes both ways, that a lot of minorities discriminate against Caucasians because of the fact that they've been discriminated against by that group.

• So far there's never been a woman president.

• I think it's sad that only men discovered America and only men can be presidents.

• Our kids are gonna grow up to there's only men in this world and women are supposed to be cleaning houses.
  
  
• I don't think that men and women are equal. It's just not improving that much.

• If we don't teach our generation to have equality, how is the next generation going to have equality?

• I don't think it's hard being a girl if you just stand up for what you think is right. I mean, it's a little bit hard because people like my mom, she would give my brother advantage over me probably because he's a boy. But you just have to deal with that, I guess.
  
  
• I mean a lot of times males think they're ten steps ahead of females, but I don't think so. I mean, to me, we're all equal. We should be treating each other with the same kind of respect and everything.
  

• There's a definite difference between the way girls and boys are treated at school. It's not always good and it's not always bad, but there is a definite difference.

• What's hard about it is if you wanna get a job sometimes they give the guys the higher position and the girls the lower one or the pay is bad because you're a girl.

• I think men will always have that higher ground than females.

• I think girls have a lot more expectations that they have to meet. Girls are expected to get good grades. Girls are expected to be home on time. Girls are usually Daddy's little girl. You have that expectation that you have to be the good girl and that you have to do whatever your parents say. I think that's one of the main reasons why girls like to rebel is because they have this expectation put on them that you're gonna be a good girl and "don't do that" and it's always "good girl, bad boy," and girls are expected to be good girls. Problems arise because I don't think any expectations should be put on girls. You're girls. You're another human. Guys are guys, they're humans. Everyone should be expected to get good grades. Everyone should be expected to put their best foot forward, yet girls tend to have that arise more in their lives.

• You have a certain amount of time in certain stores and they think you're gonna steal.

• You go to the mall and people follow you around. You can hardly move and there's someone on your back looking at you like you're some sort of criminal and you haven't done anything wrong. It's such a terrible stereotype for us just because a couple people do it, it doesn't mean the whole teenage population does.

• It made me mad because you know, people take the first impression to an extreme. If people see me when I'm wearing maybe baggy clothes and they think right away that I'm gonna steal something or that I smoke or I do drugs or I drink, just because of the way I look, that effects my self esteem. If people expect things of me, then maybe that's the way it should be. That's how a lot of people think, but I don't want people to think that I am that way, because I'm not, that's not who I'm about.

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Beyond the Butterfly is co-produced by Wisconsin Public Television and NEWIST/CESA #7 (Northeastern Wisconsin In-School Telecommunications).