Greetings and Salivations

A 6 second joke about another girl’s appearance. Two teens making out in the hallway between classes. One male student’s sexuality under fire by 400 others. Cat-calls and wolf whistles. This is the school community. Where is the respect?

This is the program for communities that refuse to throw up their hands at pop culture-influenced teen behavior.  Our students currently socialize in the world of “HotorNot.com” and The Family Guy where respect and healthy interactions are secondary to superficiality and entertainment. Students are challenged to critically analyze this world and ultimately embrace a solution from within their own community.

Mean Girls Part II

Many of the highest paid women in America employ sexual appeal to earn a living. The sexuality of women is used to sell nearly every product imaginable from video games to men's deoderant. The economics of women’s bodies teach women to compete against other women, rather than to collaborate.   There is only one Barbie, one Paris, and one Miss America.

What are the consequences of this gendered division of focus and aspiration for women?  Why would a woman stay in an abusive relationship? Why would girlfriends call each other "slut" as a term of endearment? Do young women have the ability to change this environment of objectification and inequality? With this COS program, girls learn the answer must be "Yes!"

Fried Frogs: The Delicacies of Manhood

Aggressive, strong, sexually confident, and unemotional: the signs of boys becoming men. When does strength become violence? When does sexual prowess become sexual aggression? When does gaining male self esteem require taking away the self esteem of women by turning them into objects?

This single-sex program turns up the heat, and puts the pressure on young men to take responsibility for their treatment of others. Far from “male bashing,” this program encourages male empowerment by leaving them with an understanding of the power of true masculinity and the positive force that it can be when integrity and respect are at the core of the masculine ideal.

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