Veronica Royzen, Period 7, 11/08/2021

 

Veronica Royzen

Period 7

11/08/2021

Modern Mythology 2022

Socio-political Consciousness

What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power? How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

I never knew how truly cruel the world was until the beginning of my teenage years. Growing up in a strict Russian-Jewish household, I thought I knew everything about the world. Going to a private school for most of my childhood that was pretty secluded from the rest of the world didn’t help me much either.. We did learn about oppression, racism, sexism, etc., but as a whole we never knew what it really meant. Starting high school was a completely brand new world for me and I seemed to have adjusted to it quicker than most people thought. The very first days of high school completely changed my thinking. I was in shock and confused. I would always ask myself “why did they keep this from me” or “how did i not know about this.” Jump to 4 years later and here I am a nonbinary lesbian with a new mindset and way of thinking.

I’m not the “black sheep” of my family, but I feel like an outcast. It definitely stems from every aspect of my identity. There is so much stigma surrounding gender identity and seeing the way my parents talk about it makes my blood boil. They are tolerant to a degree, but there are so many nuances that they don’t seem to believe is real. To them, nonbinary people don’t exist and their belief lights a dangerous fire in me. Despite being angry at people who think similarly to my parents, I can’t just go around waving a wand and making people change their minds. I get frustrated because there are so many nonbinary folk who have it bad. Some people get disowned from families, while others get kicked out to live on the street. These people are still people, no matter if they identify as based on the binary system. They still deserve a good and happy life.