As a high school student, I began to realize just how differently my female friends and I experienced school compared to our male peers. We faced discriminatory dress code enforcement that treated our bodies as “distractions,” and we were often left on our own to deal with sexual harassment that was downplayed as “jokes” or…
When it comes to mainstream society’s understanding of the adolescent brain, we are often limited to research which perpetuates harmful stereotypes and myths. Teenagers are lazy. Teens take stupid and dangerous risks. They’re impulsive and obsessed with approval from peers. While the people who stand by these stereotypes may point to neuroscience as evidence for…
There is no doubt that many youth rights issues are not well represented to those who have the most resources and abilities to make change on a county, state, or federal level. The issues of drinking and smoking age are no different and I firmly believe that spreading out support over as many districts and…
Growing up in the United States, I never understood the hypocrisy of drinking laws, and by extension drinking culture, in a country known to the world as a beacon of personal freedom. How was it possible that an 18 year old could vote for the president, drive a car, enlist in the army, and own…
We are happy to announce that NYRA is now fiscally sponsoring Breaking Code Silence, a movement organized by a network of survivors and activists to raise awareness of the problems in the “Troubled Teen” Industry, to aide them as they organize their nonprofit. Youth can be kidnapped and held without their consent in these programs…
Last week NYRA published our comprehensive section on Age Discrimination. It’s the sixth issue section on our website, and the second in the past year. At NYRA we stand against discrimination and actively work against ageism in all facets of society. To end age-based discrimination, we must work against the prejudicial treatment of people based…
When it comes to many social justice causes — such as LGBTQ rights, feminism, racial equality, and economic justice — youth are typically discouraged from speaking out and leading movements. Even historically, the majority of progressive movements were led by older individuals who supposedly had more wisdom and experience than their younger counterparts. However, the…
NYRA has just secured yet another voting age endorsement from Young Democrats of America, the latest of a long string of organizations that have joined the movement! YDA is the official youth arm of the Democratic Party. Gaining their support has taken over a year and a half of going back-and-forth with YDA officials before…
Young people share their experiences of navigating structural oppressions such as ageism through many different expressive media: writing, visual art, music, spoken word, dance, video/film, even multimedia techniques. Today we feature a musical work by a vibrant and thoughtful young person, Lux Onigman. Lux is a rising junior at Morristown High School. Their piece, Youth,…
Every day that I have the presence of mind to remember it, I am so grateful and so excited and so relieved to be a legal adult. I can associate with whoever I like, with no fear that I will bond with them only to be barred from seeing them later. I can read any…
