The degree to which the third (current) wave of feminism ignores youth rights issues has always boggled my mind. Historically, second wave feminist leaders like Shulamith Firestone made important contributions to youth rights theory and discussed the oppression of children as an important social fact like the oppression of women and African-Americans. Sadly, while third…
Perhaps due to our animosity towards older adults who have oppressed us and perhaps due to our desire to forge our movement’s identity in a context in which senior citizens already have a powerful movement to protect their rights, youth rights activists have often refrained from discussing the parallels between ageist oppression against youth and…
When we discuss youth rights we tend to do it from the default perspective of someone in an urban or suburban community. For those who spent their youth in such communities, this bias is understandable if nonetheless problematic. However, even for those of us raised in rural communities, it can be easy to forget (especially…
In a conversation with a friend who is new to youth rights ideology, I was recently asked a question. Why, he asked me, is youth oppression considered oppression as such when everyone experiences it? As my friend understood it, the oppression of young people was a necessary fact of life that all people passed through…
Recently, comedian Tracy Morgan has been receiving a lot of attention for a homophobic rant that took place during a live performance in Nashville, Tennessee. During this rant, audience members claim that Morgan stated that if he found out his son was gay he would stab him to death. Since this incident, a variety of…
On television news programs, in political magazines, and in college classrooms around the country, fashionable (and indeed important) discussions take place about civil rights and liberties. The focus of these discussions run the gamut: the rights of prisoners, due process rights for those accused of a crime, labor rights, the rights of racial minorities, women,…
