Why Blame Us?

Posted on November 30, 2011 by torchprogram

The following is a letter that Omar submitted to the Daily News in response to an editorial they published about the high rates of teen pregnancy in the Bronx.

By Omar

A new study reports that teens in the Bronx have high pregnancy and STI rates, even though they have the same amount of sex as teens across the city and throughout the country. Yet, somehow, the Daily News editorial, “Astronomical Bronx teen pregnancy rate” (11/18/11) blames us. This editorial jumps to conclusions too quickly about teens from the Bronx. As a teen from the Bronx who is involved in a peer sexuality education for NARAL NY, the Teen Outreach Reproductive CHallenge (TORCH), I know that many teens act responsibly, or try to, but might lack knowledge of where to get condoms confidentially or for free. The study actually showed that teens in the Bronx are more likely than other teens across the country to use condoms. There’s more going on here than just teens having too much sex – it’s lack of money, knowledge, and access to protection. Instead of trying to use the scare tactics to make us not have sex, we need programs in schools to educate teens, after-school programs, health care clinics, and more positive messages from the media.

For more information about the study mentioned in the article, go here.

Posted in Economic inequality, Reproductive rights, Sex education, Teen pregnancy | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Cat Calls Suck

Posted on November 30, 2011 by torchprogram

By Sophia

I was on the way to school this morning, minding my own business, coffee in hand, when out of a parked car came two craned necks, two guys nearly breaking their backs to get a good look of my butt.  Great.  I love feeling like a sexual object.

This isn’t unusual at all, since I deal with it almost everyday, and so do most women and girls.  It has become an awful fact of my daily life – no matter what I am wearing, I will always garner unsolicited male attention.  It is more than just a quiet humiliation – often, it is very obvious, and other people on the street may notice it.  A look or a whistle is incredibly damaging for me – all I want to do is scream in the guy’s face, but that wouldn’t do much.  This kind of behavior stems from societal values, bred-in-the-bone ideas that have been around since biblical times, which say that women are sexual objects, and should be treated as such.  How do we even begin to reverse this kind of behavior?

Read More »

Posted in Reproductive rights, Sexual Harassment, Sexual violence | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Future Plans

Posted on November 28, 2011 by torchprogram

By Tamara

It’s almost every child’s dream to move out of their parent’s house. I have this sudden ferocious motivation to reach that exact goal. Many people I know want to move away but it’s just an empty thought for some people because they aren’t being realistic. Where are you going on your own when you do not know how to cook or clean? That’s just a disaster waiting to happen. I guess all of the babysitting I’ve done for my mom will pay off because I am capable of maintaining a living space, it would be even less work without dependents. The only real issue that I find is finances. I need a decent income and to relieve some responsibility, I would need a responsible roommate.  I usually set goal one day but then I tend to forget them as the day progressing, so I proposed this solution for myself so that I won’t lose track. My friend and I agreed to write down our goals so that we can visually see what needs to be done and post it in our room somewhere so that we could see it each day and be reminded of what we want to accomplish. On the outside looking in, it’s great that we are able to think optimistically and strategize, but how realistic are we really? I do know that it is possible so I might as well continue looking ahead.

Posted in Dreams, Future planning | Tagged , | Leave a comment

It’s Anti-Bullying Week

Posted on November 17, 2011 by torchprogram

By Theresa

“The bullying stopped when I claimed myself and proved that I wasn’t afraid. A lot of it was when I was hiding when I was younger.”~ Randy Harrison

I can relate to this quote by Randy Harrison because I once was a victim of bullying. Being a young kid who felt that hiding from the bully and not sharing my story would stop the pain but I was wrong. Keeping it to myself didn’t help at all. I was alone until one day I couldn’t take it any more, I stood up to the bully ready to fight and put a end to my pain. I was stoped by a teacher who later on became someone I would run to and share my story of being a victim of bullying to. I believe that things get better when you share and open up about things to others who are out there willing to listen and help. I also believe that if we all come together we can stop bullying and save lives.

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We Are So Different You and Me

Posted on November 9, 2011 by torchprogram

By Tamara

I have to do current events assignments for my government class each week so I always choose the news-paper as my main source. I picked up the October 5th New York Post and was flipping through it to find an interesting article relating to society or government. Despite the fact that I wanted to get the assignment over with for the week, I looked through the paper to find a few more stories out of boredom. The cover story was about a helicopter tour gone wrong; the next story was about a man who had gotten robbed, it seemed like nothing out of the ordinary, so I overlooked it as I was flipping through the paper once again. At some point, I had been reduced to read the robbery story. The story was about how clothing mogul, George Bardwil was robbed at gunpoint in his own home while hosting a party. The robbers made off with a $300,000 value of money and jewelry.

Bardwil reacted to the incident by saying, “If it had been $5 million or $6 million of jewelry, I’d be upset.” Although he also mentioned that the stolen items are just trinkets and that his life is more valuable, which is an understandable reaction, it makes me angry, as a person of the middle class, to think that $300,000 could be so worthless to him. In my neighborhood, many people struggle for financial support because of obstacles such as living situations, immigration status, and income, and to think that Bardwil thought nothing of what was taken. People are in need but people like Bardwil are not putting these things to good use. Read More »

Posted in Economic inequality, Immigration | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment