On an early December morning at Golden Valley High School in Central California, a few girls, wrapped in a seasonal trend of blankets instead of coats, shuffle into Annie Delgado's classroom. They settle into desks among other sophomores, juniors, and seniors as an electronic blare jump-starts fourth period. Delgado, 45, reading glasses pushed to the top of her head, instructs them to reflect on the conversations about body positivity and social media they began last fall. "Do you ever stop to think what your feed is feeding your mind?" she often asks. "And how is this shaping or influencing how you view yourself?"
Standing, as students must when they speak here, Kaitlin Roberts, a junior, shares her experience with her 37 peers. "I started following people who are more plus-size," she says, "because I feel like I can relate more to them." Faith Perez, a senior, makes the earnest observation that Beyoncé's photos falsely suggest that her body snapped into shape immediately after she gave birth to twins. "I have a bunch of stretch marks," Perez says. "But I call them my battle scars. My pregnancy was a secret, so I went through it alone. They really mean a lot to me."
Women's studies courses at the high school level are rare in the United States, with the vast majority of students denied education on contemporary gender discrimination until they attend college—if they attend college. There might be fewer than 25 courses like Delgado's around the country, according to the only estimate—a tiny figure, but a growing one, thanks to concerned educators who find each other online under #HSfeminism.
[For more on this story by SARAH FUSS KESSLER, go to https://psmag.com/magazine/how...their-social-culture]
Comments (0)