Sexuality, Matei Penelea………………………………………………………………………236 Shame, Sophia Butrico Simp, Stephanie Brogno………………………………………………………………………239

Shame

Sophia Butrico

For this assignment, the key word I chose that I believe can be an accurate representation of young adults is the word, “shame.” I decided to represent this word in a poster form attached below, because I was able to incorporate many aspects, and images that I believe relate back to the emotion of “shame” in adolescence. In particular, shame in adolescence stems from a variety of sources, but I believe the main source of shame stems from social media. The focal point of my poster demonstrates a social media post, where two anonymous users are commenting mean and shameful comments towards the individuals in the post. Shame and guilt stem from others within the community, specifically through mean and hurtful comments that bring upon insecurities, especially during the teenage years. At the bottom of my poster, I added many different individuals that represent the various emotions that the feeling of shame can bring about. Finally, around the poster I incorporated different social media icons, such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter that reflect where most hurtful and shameful comments originate from, especially within the current digital era we are present in. Ultimately, shame plays a significant role in young adolescent health and development. During this vulnerable age, anonymous shaming via social media and other platforms can lead to even greater problems such as peer pressure, self esteem issues and depression. To learn more about the effects of shame in adolescence, below I have attached a link to two different articles. The first one discusses a clinical study on shame in adolescence, and the second further discusses the relationship between social media and shame. Finally, the third link provides access to an article discussing the effects of shame, and ways to help young adults. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0273229796900155 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0272431618770809 https://www.katyteenandfamilycounseling.com/post/shame-in-teens-3-tips-for-parents

Simp

Stephanie Brogno

Is being nice a sign of weakness? Many adolescents currently seem to treat kindness in that vein as they have coined a slang term “simp” to disparagingly describe, typically a male, who is soft and kind to females in his life, either friends or those he is romantically interested in/involved with. An example of how the word is being used: Three friends who are all males are hanging out and two of them say to one of them, “you’re being way too nice to Sarah, giving her flowers and taking her out, stop simping man” or if one says, “wow, Sarah looks beautiful” and the others say “you’re a simp” (Urban Dictionary, 2020). The term, which can be used as a noun or an adjective, originates from the word “simpleton” which denotes someone of lower intelligence and without much “common sense” according to the Merriam Webster dictionary (2022). The term first became popular as “simp” when used by West Coast rappers in the 1980s and 1990s who used the word to describe “the opposite of the pimp” in a pejorative fashion (Marcus and Bromwich, 2020). Furthermore, starting in the early 2010s, simp had been adopted by men in the “manosphere”, which are online platforms dedicated to men who engage in misogynistic discourse and who feel that they have been personally victimized by women (Jones et al., 1905-1907). Synonyms that have been associated with the word simp, by these individuals, include very vulgar words like “betas”, “f*ggots” and more (Jones et al., 1916). These groups, who have a desire for males to be seen as “supreme”, use the term simp to emasculate and scorn men who they believe do not “align with the idealised masculine identity” (Jones et al., 1916). Why have adolescents taken a word by groups from online forums of hate groups, associated with groups like “incels” (involuntary celibates) whose members include extremists like the Toronto Van Attack, in order to express their feelings about their friends love lives? The

word’s commonplace gives insight into the inside stories of adolescence, one that involves a deflection of pain and emotional experiences (Waddell, 45-48). In Inside Lives, Waddell discusses that individuals who do not have an adult figure to “contain” them (do not have an adult who can listen to them express themselves and offer back the information in a digestible way), may become internalized as an experience of adversity (Wadell, 47). When these individuals experience emotional adversity, they may engage in defensive behaviours including projection (Waddell, 48). Thus, adolescents may make fun of their friends, using vocabulary borrowed from these extremist online spheres, in order to project their emotional confusion and sense of isolation in regard to relationships and intimacy. As parents and educators, how can we recognize, understand and contain the youth’s understanding of relationships? Should we interject when hearing slang with problematic origins, or should space be given for these adolescents to work through their inside stories? Works Cited

Jones, Callum, Verity Trott, and Scott Wright. “Sluts and Soyboys: MGTOW and the Production of Misogynistic Online Harassment.” New media & society 22.10 (2020): 1903–1921. Web. https://journals-scholarsportalinfo.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/details/14614448/v22i0010/1903_sasmatpomoh.xml Accessed 3 Nov. 2022.

Marcus, Ezra, and Bromwich, Jonah Engel. “A Short History of ‘Simp.’” The New York Times, 7 Jul. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/style/simp-history-slang.html. Accessed 3 Nov. 2022.

Merriam Webster. “Simpleton.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/simpleton. Accessed 3 Nov. 2022. Urban Dictionary. “Simp.” Urban Dictionary, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Simp&page=2 . Accessed 3 Nov. 2022