Anti-bullying signal-boost.

[gaudior]

People have been talking about bullying lately. Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project has drawn attention to the suicides of gay teenagers, and has inspired the Make It Better Project, to give youth and concerned adults the tools they need to stop bullying in the schools. (I strongly recommend MIBP's Take Action page, which has such useful links as information about The Safe Schools Improvement Act (H.R. 2262/S. 3739) and how you can support it). And both homasse and seishonagon linked to an insightful and useful article by Kate Harding, On Good Kids and Total Assholes.

I'm glad people are talking about this so much-- it's making me think about my own childhood, and how much I accepted kids making fun of me, ostracizing me, and generally making me miserable as "just the way things are." That understanding of the universe and my place in it had long-lasting effects, and I am delighted and grateful that people now are talking seriously about how to stop bullying.

(I may at some point make a larger post, but at the moment, I wanted to signal-boost. Yay, signal-boosting.)

--R

Comments

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

She got gall bladder surgery, a specific diet tailored to her actual body, and meditation lessons. All of this helped her health in general--not to mention started her being able to lose weight for the first time--a lot more than just being told that she lacked willpower.

This! I think it's super-useful to keep in mind that even if weight is the main problem, losing weight can be a major, complex process, which works differently for different people.

One of the most effective things I've seen was a nutritionist who worked by meeting with her clients every week, discussing what they ate and when and how they felt about it and what they were thinking about when they did. And what exercise they did and when and how they felt about it and what they were thinking about. And I believe that she worked on the principle (and tiamat360 pointed this out in conversation yesterday, and I think it's vital) that lifestyle changes were changes, real and permanent-- this was not "going on a diet" which the clients would then go off again later, this was actually making a significant and permanent decision about how they lived. And that requires much more thought than just telling people, "okay, eat less and exercise."