Youths take up approximately 38% of all convicted hate crimes (StatCan), and this number is increasing. Although it peaked in 2006 (StatCan), it is still significantly higher than in previous decades.
One possible reason for this scewed statistic could be how impressionable teenagers and young adults are. Teens get a lot of unsupervised media exposure, whether on film, television, the internet or through music. Society encourages hyper masculine and violent behaviour, so this likely contributes to the aggression amongst 12-17 year olds. Additionally, media continually reinforces negative stereotypes about subcultures, beliefs or sexuality, and shows the use of terms such as 'gay' as derogatory. This continual reinforcement could definitely influence kids to, firstly, believe such things, and secondly, due to society's violent means of communication, take negative action about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment