The Project: Researched and created blog on slut shaming: http://itstimetotalkaboutslut.tumblr.com
Area of Inquiry: A study of the impact of the word slut on high school girls, to give teenagers a voice. Until now, Gabi discovered through her research, the conversation has generally revolved around, and among, college-aged students.
Process: Gabi first researched the history of the term "slut" as well as current online dialogs about what people are saying and who's involved in the conversation. She then emailed the directors of 15 different New York high schools, public and private, asking them to circulate a 16-question survey to their students. She was turned down by 10 schools—most public schools (evidently, public schools are evidently not allowed to distribute surveys)—but five schools participated, including Calhoun, and friends at two public schools distributed the surveys to their own friends.One hundred and ten students took the survey: 100 girls (62.5%), 53 males (33.1%), 3 non-binary (1.9%), 2 gender fluid (1.6%), and 2 who were unsure of their gender (1.6%). Ages varied from 14-19, but 55 were 16 year olds. Gabi used tumblr to create her blog, and experimented with Piktochart software to create effective infographics.
What I Learned: “I learned the way words can shift so fast because of context, and how one word can affect so many young teens, in so many negative ways. The process itself took a lot of research and time--to think about what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. I found it hard to find the write language to write about this… It was also a very emotional process; I could relate to a lot of the comments, but I didn’t want to make it [about] my opinion or biased in any way, so it took a lot of patience, and I’m an impatient person! So I learned a lot of patience! The most surprising aspect of the project—people were really honest and open.
What's Next: "I want to write at least two more blogs based on responses to the survey, and I am considering facilitating workshops in the Upper School next year to keep the conversation going."
Value of JW: Junior workshop gave me the space and opportunity to focus on something that's bothered me for a long time.