Monday, October 03, 2005

Awarenesses

Boobs on parade! Check out Boobiethon. Lushy turned me onto this site. I have joined the ranks and bared my breasts in the name of Breast Cancer Awareness. The only hint I am giving you as to my whereabouts on the site is: I'm as Pretty As A Picture.

Here's what I wonder: How can one month have so many awarenesses? Does it take away the meaning and purpose of having an Awareness Month when so many other causes are sharing it? This site indicates there there are NINE other health related causes being promoted. It is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month. That is a whole lot ribbons to wear. People might mistake you for celebrating Gay Pride with all those colors going on- and that isn't until next month...along with Diabetes and Adoption.

I worked for a Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault non-profit for 2.5 years. It was incredibly meaningful work and also, incredibly frustrating and sad. I volunteered for a year on the 24 hour crisis line before I applied for a job. There were some nights, after my shift was over, that I would just cry. So much sorrow, so much pain. Later, when I worked as the Community Educator, I went to all the local junior highs, high schools, jails and rehabs to talk about rape and abuse. While I enjoyed the work- teaching, creating dynamic presentations, talking to all different sorts of people about such heated topics- I grew disillusioned. Was I REALLY helping? It felt as though I was being pushed to say one message (boys are bad!) and that felt uncomfortable and wrong. I don't believe that men are the root of the problem. It is a societal problem. Sure, men perpetuate the violence more often then women but there is more to it than that. And frankly, in a 45 minute presentation, you can barely scratch the surface. What about talking about issues of low self-esteem? About our inability to communicate effectively and honestly about such topics as sex and boundaries? There was never enough time to go there and there is where we needed to start. I hope that I was able to reach some of my audience...maybe get them to think about themselves and how they are in relationships.

One time I was at a junior high health class when a student raised his hand and asked, "What is oral sex?" I looked over at the teacher to gauge how to respond and she winked at me and fielded the question. . ."It is when one person puts their mouth on another person's genitals." To which the entire class of 12 year olds groaned and ewwwwwed and laughed. One cried out, "Why would you want to do THAT? Eww!"

Oh, trust me kid, someday you will understand. ;)

6 comments:

Bex said...

first of all, the boobiethon??? awesomeness.
you have done some fascinating work, ms. sizz! i think it would be incredibly hard to work at a domestic violence/sexual assault non-prof. you just see so much, too much. and what brave work to volunteer at the crisis line. i think it would just make me too sad, i wouldn't know what to say to the people who called in. props to you.

Lushy said...

I've seen your boobies!

Bill said...

I'm either old or tired but as interesting as boobs are I was more taken by the question of the number of a-thons there are. How do you priortize these things? How do you effectively deal with any of these issues? Where do you begin? How do you maintain interest in these things?

I realized that if I started writing about this I would go on forever.

And sex? In a world where it's used to sell everything from hamburgers to cars to retirement homes, where it's okay to be a moron as long as there's almost 0% fat in your ass and you've got a gas-guzzling SUV or Hummer, well, is it any wonder people are fucked up about it?

Sorry ... I made the mistake of watching Entertainment Tonight. What was I thinking?

sue said...

I looked, but must have missed yours... but then, there were a lot and I was scanning through pretty fast... Awesome project!

I don't know how you give and give. You are such a good person. I'm glad the world has people like you to counter balance people like me who do nothing. Bless ya, Siz.

Her Daddy's Eyes said...

I’m so gonna find your boobs! Just wait! I'm gonna find them! I'm also gonna submit my 'set' to the site! :)

Hahahaha, celebrating Gay Pride with all those ribbons! That is too funny!

"Excuse me, Ms. Sizzle? Ummmm...Can you show us what you mean? I don't understand the definition of oral sex..."
Yeah I know what you mean, I have to say penis to a bunch a 5 year olds every year..."EEEEWWWWW!" "HEHEHEHEEHE!"

~Eyes

Anonymous said...

nine months in a DV org and a year and a half of teaching therapeutic writing to domestic violence survivors - meaningful AND frustrating, just barely scratching the surface... yeah.

- jules