Feminism Now Topic A at Elite High School

[littlemissmartypants]

By Amanda Ruggieri

Teen Voices at Women's eNews

Thursday, September 4, 2014

After "traces of male entitlement" were found in a male student's newspaper column, some students at a New York City school congregated around a Facebook page this summer to discuss culture changes at their female-dominated high school.

Townsend Harris High School students protested the school dress code with posters that were promptly pulled down by the administration.Credit: Angelina Liu


NEW YORK (WOMENSENEWS)--A controversy that blew up at a New York City high school last spring led several students to spend the summer building a feminist forum.

It all started when a male peer wrote a newspaper column about the dating problems of boys at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, which is 70 percent female. Detractors called the article an example of male entitlement and over the summer they have congregated around a Facebook page, which attracts daily posts. As school resumes this week, some are planning to move from discourse to activism.

The article, by then junior Ross Cimagala, argued that girls unfairly label boys in the school as "undateable." "I often see some of my perfectly nice and datable male friends ignored by the young women they pursue," he wrote in the 436-word piece published in the May issue of The Classic, a 30-year-old award-winning publication.

Student response to the piece was fierce. Within hours of publication, Jensine Raihan posted on her Facebook page: "It appalls me that even in a school where the majority of the demographics are girls, sexism is still alive and real," she wrote. "You cannot identify as a feminist and deny that the article was promoting male entitlement and it promoted rape culture. It's gruesome but it's true." Her post racked up 600 comments.

Townsend High student Angelina Liu quickly created a public "Feminism at Townsend" Facebook page, which has been gaining momentum throughout the summer as a place for students to comment on the episode.

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More at link: http://womensenews.org/story/education/140903/feminism-now-topic-at-elite-high-school#.VAhU5cnD-BY

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