Petoskey Middle School friends who attended Meg Wilson’s birthday party brought donations for the Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan (WRCNM) Safe Home, instead of traditional birthday gifts and plan to continue their efforts to help women and girls.  Pictured presenting the donation is (L to R) Brianna Kimbler, Kennedy Buck, Kendra Shaw, Jenny Tompkins, Meg Wilson, and Natalie Koeller with Chris Krajewski, WRCNM Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault Program Director.  Missing from photo are Jessica Edwards and Shannon Cartwright.

If you think teen girls only talk about clothes, shopping and boys; these local girls will change your mind.  The close-knit friends who attend Petoskey Middle School discuss everything from books to the Holocaust to women’s rights.  Recently they gathered at the Safe Home operated by the Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan (WRCNM) to donate cash and personal care items for survivors of domestic abuse.

The donation is the result of a no-gift birthday party for one of the friends in the group, Meg Wilson. The girls had all decided it would be a great idea to forego traditional birthday gifts for something more meaningful.  The idea got these energetic and articulate young women thinking about how they could make a further difference; one that might help women and girls dealing with gender inequality, sexism, and even domestic abuse, sexual assault and dating violence.

So what’s a girl to do?  They plan to move forward with an organization called, “The Women of the Future, Helping the Women of Today.”  One of their goals is to build awareness of the group and encourage other students to participate.  They also aim to heighten awareness in the student population of every day attitudes, actions and behaviors that work to devalue girls’ worth, such as demeaning jokes and comments.  The girls said even something as seemingly harmless as moving women’s rights books to the fiction section, which happened in their own middle school library, subtly contributes to the wide spread problem of gender discrimination.  Wilson and her friends also commented on the habit of some middle school boys who yell to female students, “Make me a sandwich,” because the boys feel it’s a traditional woman’s job the girls need to learn.  Although it is belittling and puts limits on contributions the young women may make to society; the girls think it is not really registering with the boys.

With maturity beyond their years, the girls understand how ingrained these attitudes are in our society and in their own school.  They are intuitive enough to realize they have become desensitized to many of the everyday messages we are all exposed to that degrade women.  At Petoskey High School, next fall, these freshmen girls would like to work with school administrators on finding a place for the group to meet during lunch or after school.  Other students who want to join the group will be asked to sign a pledge to uphold women’s rights and speak out against actions and behaviors that demean, belittle or embarrass women and girls.  They plan to explore current issues students grapple with like bullying, equality, popularity, conformity and how both girls and boys are portrayed in society.  They will also hold fundraisers for women’s-related causes

If this sounds like an all-girls club, think again.  These insightful teens know that boy students have an important role to play in changing sexist attitudes.  They are also concerned that boys are just as affected by cultural norms as girls, norms that require boys to keep their emotions in check, be tough, excel at sports and conform to society’s definition of masculinity.

This summer the group intends to work on a more formal plan, do some fundraising and contact school administrators to determine how this worthwhile endeavor will best fit within the school setting in the coming school year.