#youth oppression

[aronarchy]

Why we don’t like it when children hit us back

To all the children who have ever been told to “respect” someone that hated them.

March 21, 2023

Even those of us that are disturbed by the thought of how widespread corporal punishment still is in all ranks of society are uncomfortable at the idea of a child defending themself using violence against their oppressors and abusers. A child who hits back proves that the adults “were right all along,” that their violence was justified. Even as they would cheer an adult victim for defending themself fiercely.

Even those “child rights advocates” imagine the right child victim as one who takes it without ever stopping to love “its” owners. Tear-stained and afraid, the child is too innocent to be hit in a guilt-free manner. No one likes to imagine the Brat as Victim—the child who does, according to adultist logic, deserve being hit, because they follow their desires, because they walk the world with their head high, because they talk back, because they are loud, because they are unapologetically here, and resistant to being cast in the role of guest of a world that is just not made for them.

If we are against corporal punishment, the brat is our gotcha, the proof that it is actually not that much of an injustice. The brat unsettles us, so much that the “bad seed” is a stock character in horror, a genre that is much permeated by the adult gaze (defined as “the way children are viewed, represented and portrayed by adults; and finally society’s conception of children and the way this is perpetuated within institutions, and inherent in all interactions with children”), where the adult fear for the subversion of the structures that keep children under control is very much represented.

It might be very well true that the Brat has something unnatural and sinister about them in this world, as they are at constant war with everything that has ever been created, since everything that has been created has been built with the purpose of subjugating them. This is why it feels unnatural to watch a child hitting back instead of cowering. We feel like it’s not right. We feel like history is staring back at us, and all the horror we felt at any rebel and wayward child who has ever lived, we are feeling right now for that reject of the construct of “childhood innocence.” The child who hits back is at such clash with our construction of childhood because we defined violence in all of its forms as the province of the adult, especially the adult in authority.

The adult has an explicit sanction by the state to do violence to the child, while the child has both a social and legal prohibition to even think of defending themself with their fists. Legislation such as “parent-child tort immunity” makes this clear. The adult’s designed place is as the one who hits, and has a right and even an encouragement to do so, the one who acts, as the person. The child’s designed place is as the one who gets hit, and has an obligation to accept that, as the one who suffers acts, as the object. When a child forcibly breaks out of their place, they are reversing the supposed “natural order” in a radical way.

This is why, for the youth liberationist, there should be nothing more beautiful to witness that the child who snaps. We have an unique horror for parricide, and a terrible indifference at the 450 children murdered every year by their parents in just the USA, without even mentioning all the indirect suicides caused by parental abuse. As a Psychology Today article about so-called “parricide” puts it:

Unlike adults who kill their parents, teenagers become parricide offenders when conditions in the home are intolerable but their alternatives are limited. Unlike adults, kids cannot simply leave. The law has made it a crime for young people to run away. Juveniles who commit parricide usually do consider running away, but many do not know any place where they can seek refuge. Those who do run are generally picked up and returned home, or go back on their own: Surviving on the streets is hardly a realistic alternative for youths with meager financial resources, limited education, and few skills.

By far, the severely abused child is the most frequently encountered type of offender. According to Paul Mones, a Los Angeles attorney who specializes in defending adolescent parricide offenders, more than 90 percent have been abused by their parents. In-depth portraits of such youths have frequently shown that they killed because they could no longer tolerate conditions at home. These children were psychologically abused by one or both parents and often suffered physical, sexual, and verbal abuse as well—and witnessed it given to others in the household. They did not typically have histories of severe mental illness or of serious and extensive delinquent behavior. They were not criminally sophisticated. For them, the killings represented an act of desperation—the only way out of a family situation they could no longer endure.

- Heide, Why Kids Kill Parents, 1992.

Despite these being the most frequent conditions of “parricide,” it still brings unique disgust to think about it for most people. The sympathy extended to murdering parents is never extended even to the most desperate child, who chose to kill to not be killed. They chose to stop enduring silently, and that was their greatest crime; that is the crime of the child who hits back. Hell, children aren’t even supposed to talk back. They are not supposed to be anything but grateful for the miserable pieces of space that adults carve out in a world hostile to children for them to live following adult rules. It isn’t rare for children to notice the adult monopoly on violence and force when they interact with figures like teachers, and the way they use words like “respect.” In fact, this social dynamic has been noticed quite often:

Sometimes people use “respect” to mean “treating someone like a person” and sometimes they use “respect” to mean “treating someone like an authority” and sometimes people who are used to being treated like an authority say “if you won’t respect me I won’t respect you” and they mean “if you won’t treat me like an authority I won’t treat you like a person” and they think they’re being fair but they aren’t, and it’s not okay.

(https://soycrates.tumblr.com/post/115633137923/stimmyabby-sometimes-people-use-respect-to-mean)

But it has received almost no condemnation in the public eye. No voices have raised to contrast the adult monopoly on violence towards child bodies and child minds. No voices have raised to praise the child who hits back. Because they do deserve praise. Because the child who sets their foot down and says this belongs to me, even when it’s something like their own body that they are claiming, is committing one of the most serious crimes against adult society, who wants them dispossessed.

Sources:

“The Adult Gaze: a tool of control and oppression,” https://livingwithoutschool.com/2021/07/29/the-adult-gaze-a-tool-of-control-and-oppression

“Filicide,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filicide

[youth-liberation-june]

school is meant to, and does make us, forget who we are and our self worth.

[sage-thee-herbmaster]

What radicalised me into the youth liberation were my parents. 

They smacked me, took away my possessions, threatened to destroy said possessions, emotionally neglected and abused me, ignored my declining mental health, ignored my autism and ADHD symptoms, had my thoughts, feelings and opinions dismissed because “I’m just a kid”, called me lazy and selfish because I just wanted to rest because I’ve been on my feet for the past four hours looking after my baby sibling, told that my pain doesn’t matter because “it could be worse”, taught that my emotions don’t matter, taught that I can only rely on myself even when I clearly need help, taught that what’s between my legs is much more important to them than what’s between my ears etc. etc.

Because of all this, I’m both terrified and resentful of my parents especially my step father, who’s an ignorant Gen X cishet white man who has admitted that he believes he’s better than everyone when in reality he’s just surrounded by mentally ill/disabled people and literal children who are still learning how to be people. 

I’m not joking when I say that I that I’m glad I’m moving out, but I’m really worried that I’m going to “mess up” somehow and my parents will chose keep me home longer. They hold so much power over me, even more than they know, they’re capable of absolutely destroying my life and I would be incapable of stopping them because we live in the middle of bush and it’s a three hour walk out.

And I bet you my bottom dollar if my parents knew how I really felt about them they would punish me in someway because hating the people who traumatised you is crime apparently :/

[glittertimes]

“Another example is with the “child-free” movement. Child-free living is often framed as a feminist reclamation of our bodies or an ethical choice not to bring more children into the world. Whilst everyone should have reproductive autonomy, there is no such thing as child free living because children exist everywhere in all our communities, within which adults in particular have a responsibility of care. Parenting is community care, and community care is parenting. They are one in the same and therefore everybody -regardless of age- should be working on their parenting skills. The linguistic framing of “child-free” is also problematic: young people are not some harmful or oppressive force to be liberated from. Children need to be free from the adults, not the other way around! And most people discussing or practicing I have outlined do nothing like most people, to support youth. Any so-called liberatory framework that affirms adult power and agency without simultaneously identifying the oppression of young people and fighting for our power too, is just ageist.

- Innocence and Corruption: An Abolitionist Understanding of Youth Oppression by Aiyana Goodfellow

This is something that’s always bothered me about people who advocate for being child free but I didn’t know how to put it into words!

I totally understand the frustration with the pressure to get married and start a family! No one should be forced to have children if it’s something they don’t want, and I get wanting to divest from discussions about children altogether bc of those pressures.

But the child free movement focuses so much on adult freedom and fulfillment when there’s so much being left out about how children suffer from patriarchy and capitalist expectations as well!

Your life can be fulfilling without children or raising a family, but we can’t blame all of adults’ problems or lack of fulfillment on children when the real thing we should blame is patriarchy and capitalism. Which again, children do not benefit from, they’re just as oppressed (if not more so!) as adults under these systems!

[aronarchy]

[youth-liberation-june]

i’m gonna b so righteous and anarchist right now to the point where i seem alien. i’ll be the next nellie bly.

• how u spell words anywhere doesn’t determine intelligence nor virtue. speaking or writing in a different english than formal also doesn’t.

• internet access and water as fresh as bottled is a human right.

• the fact that i can’t post this on X like i wanted to and can only post this here bcuz prison 1 (“home”) has no internet bcuz my enslaver (egg donor/“mom”) won’t fix it and prison 2’s (school) wi-fi’s restrictive is adultist bullshit.

• defund the police. ACAB (all cops are bastards), and ATAB (all teachers are bastards).

• NO degree of harassment should be condoned in a supposedly “safe” space. esp not in the same space that condemned cursing, which is also bullshit in retrospect. i will from now on call it out to the best of my ability. or walk out if they rly want to shut me up so desperately.

-same thing for ableism. i should b able to stutter w/o the system letting my bullies laugh at me. that’s not okay.

• the grading system should b dismantled. the whole school system should b dismantled.

• i am an alien 👽 technically. i’ve claimed a new home, meaning i’m not from here anymore. i’m a Law of Assumption user, a master manifestor who’s reprogrammed their subconscious mind to their new story/identity/home.

• i WILL no longer tolerate any fascism. there’s alr a kid in my math class who kinda did the same thing, and he’s an obnoxious dummy.

• i will no longer tolerate my stalkers. any time they try something, and i mean any microaggression, i’m removing myself.

• i won’t pretend any of my teachers are good anymore. they’re all complicit in an oppressive adultist system.

and with all this, i don’t think i’m trying to change anything, my “efforts” are not “for nothing”. i’m just an anarchist.

[respectthepetty]

I love this little yellow menace, and he deserves the world!

So that "blank letter" business better not come back and haunt me later.

I know all these adults mean well and are being realistic that Moo having a relationship, especially a queer one, will hurt his chances in the industry, but if another queer musically-inclined youth taught us anything, it's that when the world is cruel to kids, you don't join in the cruelty; you become the peace, you become the safety, and you become the home.

PROTECT 👏🏾QUEER 👏🏾YOUTHS👏🏾!

And don't hurt the best Blue Boy on these BL streets like that!

Because I want Moo to get what he wants and next week he is wearing his boy's color, so *fingers crossed*

He is also wearing his own color in the music video, so he is very much embracing exactly who he is.

I don't care what anybody is telling him! If he wants to tell the world he is in a committed relationship with an amazing boy who loves and supports him with their colored lights behind him (and that tiny dash of red and pink), more power to my boo!

While his boy admires him in the green, might I add!

Because even if Tae isn't ready to explore his feelings,

He is the ally Moo needs in his corner who is willing to fight for his friend at the slightest hint of disrespect instead of all these adults who are actually continuing oppressive behavior by proxy.

Which is the second time Aun has played the unlikely ally ready to throw hands in the name of justice.

Kang and Boo are in the most adorable domestic bliss.

They are figuring out what is comfortable FOR THEM!

And it's all in their colors!

The color-coded boys ARE in love.

And even the subway system is rooting for them in Moo's color.

So can't these adults just have a little faith and lend their support to these color-coded boys in love?

And if not, be there to protect them and hug them when the world has wronged them!

These PFLAG Awards ain't gonna win themselves, so GET IT TOGETHER MY FELLOW ADULTS!

[sigynsilica]

Minors can't buy medicine.

That's not a joke.

That's not a dystopian novel prompt.

That's not an exaggeration.

In the modern day in which we live, certain kinds of medicine are illegal for minors to buy because the government views children as inherently irresponsible to the point that they are forbidden from buying cold and flu medicine.

[bookquotesfrombooks]

“I wish for everyone who cares about liberation to see children as whole people, who, while they may have different care needs and require different types of support from adults, are no less whole human beings for it.”

Idzie Desmarais

“Anarchy Begins at Home”

Published in Trust Kids!: Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy

[akkivee]

A sudden thought I had in relation to my epiphany while thinking about the NGE parallels, but I'm starting to wonder if BB and BAT's lack of deeper plot is BECAUSE of their ages? Like they're so young, (Hitoya is 14 y/o at heart adsjflkasdjl;), so realistically why would they be involved in government shenanigans? But really, what I'm starting to wonder is if they're actually meant to represent the struggle of youths inheriting a world destroyed by the prior generation, a struggle that is pretty universal with the millennial and gen Z demographics globally. Like all they can do is survive the best they can with all the craziness happening because of the actions of the characters older than them.

i'm not sure if bat's there just yet, despite kuukou going thru some of that by proxy of being on a team with ichiro back in the day, but yes absolutely on bb's part lol, it's how they help hypmic's worldbuilding lol. bb also expresses a desire to change their world, but are pretty aimless about it for the most part, which you usually ascribe to youth lol

the block party tho shows ichiro's initiative to change the world and is also meant to show the hope for a better world adults (esp those in higher positions, like the neighbourhood president in bb's track) tend to push on to the youth, as evident from rei using this as a time to point ichiro to the real fight, and samatoki in his next appearance saying he understands the power hope can have. (hip hop was born from these high school kids throwing a block party calling for the end of gun violence that was killing their community. the block party is taking inspiration from that real world event)

bb and bat share a same writing beat where they introduce an ideal that's very important to live by in their messed up world and is an overarching lesson hypmic wants to impart, such as the need to protect your community or the importance of music, and i wouldn't be surprised if bbbat are in a more unique position to follow thru with those ideals bc they're young and without adult responsibilities, and that hitoya is there as the adult arguably with the best position to help them further along those ideals (bc adults need to be able to help clear the way for the youth too, instead of making it harder for them to change their/our shitty world)

[floralfanboy]

This is a very important case where Tony Albanese and the Australian Labor Party deserve absolute scorn.

The right wing Liberal Party makes irrelevant and outright false jabs at the Labor Party except where it matters. But since the Liberal Party are also keen on quashing online privacy and youth rights, of course the Liberal Party ain't making a ruckus here.

And so many small-L liberals and social democrats have decided to make "protecting the young" as an excuse to support a solution much worse and unfair than the problems posed by social media use.

fucking australia’s trying to get everyone to link their government id to their social media accounts else you cant use them anymore, the actual fuck is wrong with this country

[turtally-tubular]

guys if you’re gonna address kids for being uneducated about a certain topic maybe dont be overly hostile to them and being like “oh you dumb fucking minors stupid kids” and overall just being super ageist/childist/whatever word you wanna use instead of kindly educating them thanksss

[youth-liberation-june]

guys ISTG i hate adultism.

they restrict our internet access on our school devices (for me they restrict X, IG, pinterest, youTube w/ restricted mode & tikTok)

they don’t care if we have no internet at home becuase they don’t know or care that it’s a human right unless it gets in the way of work

and my stupid school iPad just “forbidded” this web for a sec! i would’ve been left with nothing (until i manifested my way into my new story) if that stayed.

[youth-liberation-june]

as an atheist whose phone just got taken from their abusive christian enslaver,

i really wish the world knew how abused kids really are, and how their complicity and ignorance kills so many.

my egg donor could talk about me with other people she’s gotten to abuse me; how they think i’m the crazy one who just wants freedom. i “need to be saved”, i “need to be” fucking exorcised, performed rituals on more, more religiously indoctrinated, in such a normal tone. and i’d just have to hear that. that’s insane.

blast religiously indoctrinating music, talk about me not wanting to be converted into a christian or oppressed like that like they just couldn’t understand

i can’t…

"without parental consent" yeah uhhh if the human being can understand and consent to it then the parents can go pound sand.

[puckpocketed]

17/10/2024 - LAK @ MTL

i have that too kinda

[ID: Two photos of LA Kings players Alex Turcotte (left) and Jordan Spence (right) arriving to a match. They are both wearing the exact same outfit: a light grey suit, white shoes, white shirt, and black beanie. Brandt Clarke is visible in the background of Turcotte’s photo. /. End ID.]

[errrr-vent-blog]

yea genuinely THIIS is the childism im talking about. sorry if youre offended, but ya cant hate kids. young people ? cant hate them. literally imagine yourself replacing yhat with like. idont know. queer people. "ihate queer people" sounds wrong ?? queermisic ?? so why is it morally acceptable/ok, or at least neutral to hate a young person ? its not.