from what i see every now and then, dan savage tends to get a bit of backlash from the lgbt community for just being secretly -phobic. but what about the project itself? has it actually helped people on EC? jw! and do you, personally, believe that it gets better?
I have some issues with the campaign itself. Sure, telling people that it gets better is a good thing. In a lot of cases it does. But just saying 'it gets better' isn't really helping the greater problem here. On the other hand, these people who make the it gets better videos are doing SOMETHING, something that admittedly, does help some people. And that is more than most people do for young, LGBT people. I don't think we should be so critical of the campaign, but instead supplement it with other campaigns. To MAKE it better for the kids who are the target audience here.
Exactly. I feel that saying "It gets better" is sort of a lie. It won't get better on its own; we need to do something about it. Also, I'm not a fan of Dan Savage at all, but I think his heart was in the right place with this one.
I'm okay with the campaign. I would rather have a "Make It Better" campaign, though, that focused on routing out homophobia. "It Gets Better" implies that it's okay for life to suck now as long as it won't always.
It hasn't helped or hurt me personally. I think in the aggregate it's probably increased positive exposure for the whole community. It also gives people a chance to tell their stories of personal strength. However, it does little to nothing as far as addressing the emotional and physical abuse problems that we suffer from.
I think that intentionally skirting the issue might actually help. Sometimes, you can get away with more. I like the campaign because it does have good celebrities in it. It helped me to get through a point where I thought it wouldn't get any better.
I think the project has good intentions, but lacks a lot of direction. It does get better, yes. That's an over simplification though... things do get better but the challenges get tougher. Career, significant other, financial security, sturdy education, etc. :3
my understanding is that "it gets better" refers to life being difficult at present time because you are gay. ordinary life challenges that everyone experiences would not be included in that. I also don't consider having a career, being financially secure, etc. to be a tougher challenge than dealing with, say, high school bullying, because I actually have control over my career, higher education, etc.
You couldn't be more right. I think the message is positive, it does help, but it doesn't help solve.
IMHO the It Gets Better project is important as it serves to boost morale. I've been through more than my fair share of rough patches in life. When you are getting beat on every day, it is easy to reach the point where you just give you and don't give a damn anymore.
that's kind of what i see its purpose being. i don't think it is (or was necessarily meant to be) a solution in and of itself. laws and societal viewpoints change slowly, or at least not fast enough, but people - teens especially - need something to hang onto NOW. so if it can serve the limited purpose of giving hope, and possibly deterring some would-be suicides, then i would think that useful. and to the extent that many celebrities and public figures are making videos, it may also serve as a kind of "peer pressure" tool to the straight community.
Exactly! Which problem should it fix? The judgement? The right wing telling us we don't matter? The low self-esteem? The abuse? The hatred? The bullying? The disrespect? The list goes ON and ON.
It's like a fairytale. You read the book and you're expecting something thats not coming anytime soon especially if you're "waiting" for it. I know it's supposed to be a morale boost but it's alos like an emotional "sugar" rush, which is terrible. You have this kid expecting stuff to turn around, at some point, which may never seem to come fast enough for them. It seems like it just adds more questions, anxieties to the initial panic yet it gives you nothing to use to resolve or atleast cope with it in a long-term sense. Noone wants to keep staring at their computer screen, listening(or reading) everyone else's happily ever afters. After sometime, it makes you feel worse. I don't think he's a bad man for it's "immaturity" but I think it could have been thought out more or atleast done in alliance with another campaign or program. Or as stated above, we as in all of us, fem-masc and everything inbetween try to take some pressure off of them instead of just patting them on the back saying "Well just don't exert too much energy this round cuz it ain't over yet!"
I don't think it does any bad... Just not much good either. Srsly people like Dan Savage have the opportunity to spend money actually making things better for LGBT youth, but all it does is tell them it will get better (I hope that made sense) instead of, y'know, making it better.
