Photo courtesy of YWCA Metro Vancouve

The YWCA wants high school students to have a more critical eye towards media. The organization is hosting its fourth annual conference called YOUth, Deconstructing the world around you, an interactive conference for high school students to discuss critical issues in the media that impact their lives. Organizers expect about 70 youths to attend the free conference on Nov. 19.

Chantelle Krish, the associate director of communications and advocacy with YWCA Metro Vancouver, says being critical of media goes beyond just television and movies.

“It really extends to social media as well. So they learn what’s behind the message and who’s behind the image. How can they create their own media to counteract some of the negative things they are seeing?” says Krish.

For example, if they see negative postings online they can choose how they react to it by not sharing or liking it.

“We try to encourage them to learn about all these different things so then they are empowered to make change in the communities or themselves,” she says.

One of the key advocacy priorities of the YWCA is to end the sexualization of women and girls.

“We try to mitigate the harmful impacts of hypersexualization, which includes things like increased mental health disorders among young women and men, societal tolerance of sexist attitudes and violence, depression, [and] low self-esteem,” says Krish.

Empowering community contributions

As of last year, the conference has evolved from the staff leading the conference to the youth themselves. Some of the speakers include Hootsuite and The Next Big Thing. LGBTQ + Awareness in partnership with QMUNITY will talk about common misconceptions people have about the LGBTQ+ community. There will also be a talk about healthy relationships and dating, as well as social media and its impact on mental health.

“This year, we’ve added a little more structure. The committee is involved in everything in the conference, from workshop design but also marketing, communications, event management, [and] sponsorships,” says Krish. “So they’re learning a number of skills being provided with leadership opportunities that they can carry with them for hopefully a long time.”

She says the youth who have joined the YWCA Strong Girls, Strong World Youth Advisory Committee and attended the conference have learned a lot.

“That’s been an empowering experience for them, and a lot of them have reported that that’s kind of what they wanted and what they needed to be able to contribute to their communities. We’ve had a number of youth come back for a second year,” she says.

Passions of youth

Sarah Park first got involved with the YWCA through their Welcome To My Life Program, a program that helps Grade 7 girls transition into high school. A third-year integrated science student at UBC, Park enjoyed working with the YWCA so much she joined the youth advisory committee.

She says media often portrays youth in a negative light.

“Youth should not try to fit into the mould … but rather stick with what they’re passionate about, because that’s when others can really see the genuine and a realness of what youth are doing. The youth are passionate about something, and they are willing to go out there to do something to affect society,” says Park.

Paul Kedebe, also on the committee, got involved (he joined September 2015) because he was interested in the subject matter: gender roles and how that plays a part in society.

“We’re presenting new ideas about what ways we can make society a more acceptable place for gender inclusiveness. That’s what I love about this community – the whole discussion of it and you could see everybody has a big passion for what they do, in terms of wanting to be in the discussion and wanting to find a way to make the world a better place,” says Kedebe, a first-year University of Toronto political science student.

Ever since he joined the committee, it’s enlightened him to see how differing opinions of different subjects regarding the generalization of women or minorities in media play a big role in society. Also, he hopes more youth see the bigger picture about how the media impacts them and how they function in the world.

It’s important for youth to have their voices heard, but there are some challenges, he notes. However, he thinks youth can take steps to cause a ripple effect in their own communities to counteract misconceptions of them in the media.

“I think starting awareness within our circle, to get the word out even more, so people in our social circle, people around us, are cognizant about images in the media [and that they] are not truly reflective of what youth can do,” says Kedebe.

Kedebe hopes youth who attend will take part in the conference’s activities.

“The one thing that I hope people would get out of the conference is their voices are more powerful than they think they are. I think people need to be vocal about a lot of things,” says Kedebe. “I think through the workshops that we had last year, not only will it build the confidence that people need to be able to voice their opinions about these types of issues, but to be able to take action as well.”

For more information, visit their facebook page:
www.facebook.com/YWCAYouth