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| image provided by indieflix |
Lauren Parsekian and Molly Thompson were both affected by female bullying while they were in school. Lauren, writer of the film Finding Kind, had this to say about her experience with bullying: "For me, the hardest time was middle
school. It’s a funny thing to think about, because ten years later, I can still
vividly recall every terrible memory from that time of my life. I truly hope
that the message of Kind Campaign speaks to you, and that you know how special
you are. I know it's extremely hard to be a girl. It's hard for ALL of us.
However, I have confidence that through Kind Campaign we will all come together
to create a community and an awareness that will change this problem." Lauren's friend Molly, who produces the film, also had negative experiences with girl bullying, but while in high school. She agreed to work with Lauren on the documentary to inspire others into action on this issue.
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| image courtesy of indieflix |
The things that stuck out for me while I was watching the film were that men tend to have more long-lasting friends. They have brotherhoods. Women lack that sense of sisterhood. Friendships are transient. Bridges get burnt, and when apologies are made, they aren't fully trusted. Part of the reason for this is because girls tend gossip. Part of it is because we don't say what we really mean. We may also have a hard time forgiving because the things we do to each other are so emotionally damaging, it's hard to forget. One psychologist on the documentary made the point that the brain doesn't forget traumatic events--painful memories stick with us.
What is perpetuating this culture of female bullying? It is suggested that part of the reason is that the media shows a lot of images and videos of violence against women, women being pitted against women, and suggestions that you can't trust women. We also live in a culture that values competitiveness and where our worth is determined by what you have and how you look. It's hard to live up to those images. Competitiveness + an emphasis on possessions = Exclusion. Those without the things that others possess may resort to bullying because they're acting out their own discomforts. Then, on top of all of that, bullying is now more widespread thanks to technology. Now we can send text messages, get on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and everywhere else online.
That's why it's so, so important to stop this trend. To be kind. And that's why Lauren and Molly started the Kind Campaign. You can tell your truth, share your apology, and take your pledge to unite in kindness to end female bullying. They also have opportunities on their website for schools to sign up for them to come for assemblies to talk about female bullying and start a Kind Campaign at school. If you'd like to learn more about what they're doing, IndieFlix is showing this documentary exclusively until May 24th.
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| image courtesy of indieflix |
If you have girls or teach girls or know girls, this might be a good film for you to watch. All I know is, after watching this film, I'm thinking, "Squeaker may have Autism, but at least he doesn't have to deal with female bullying."
I'm glad that I had the opportunity to watch this film on IndieFlix so that I could become more aware and help raise more awareness of this issue.
Now, I'm just looking at IndieFlix like a kid in a candy store because there are some interesting films on there to watch. They're grouped by channels, so you can more easily pick what you want to watch. They have an entire category for zombies! If you don't have a lot of time to watch things, you can pick some of the shorter flicks. They have some that are less than 10 minutes and then you have your full films that are longer than an hour. There are more channels than what you see in the picture below.
I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a preview to IndieFlix for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
I've been given the opportunity to give away 2-month subscriptions to IndieFlix to TEN lucky readers. Check back soon to find out how you can win.
