What is Youth Liberation and why is it important?
The Youth Liberation movement advocates for equal rights, dignity, and treatment for and of the youth.
Childism/Adultism: The prejudice adults hold towards children and the youth; oppression of kids and teenagers; and the the indignity children and teenagers are forced to endure.
Adult Supremacy: The oppressive system which upholds unequal treatement of children/teenagers/the youth; the system which places adults on a higher pedestal than the youth; microaggressions and implicit biases which results in disregard and degradation of the youth.
When a group of people have political, social and/or economical power over another group, it is referred to as a 'power dynamic. When this power dynamic is ignored or goes un-acknowledged, it leads to harm. When this power dynamic is taken advantage of, it leads to oppression.
What we tell kids/say about kids that is considered acceptable or understandable:
"It’s my money and my house, therefore what I say goes. Once they start earning, they can talk about their opinions"
"I’m spanking/slapping my child so that they don’t repeat their mistake. If kids aren’t disciplined they won’t learn"
"Children aren’t intellectually developed enough to understand reason, or be spoken to as an equal, so sometimes you need to discipline them physically"
If we said the same thing to/about...:
Men to women who’re homemakers - sexism and misogyny
Wardens to prisoners - violation of basic human rights
An adult to a child with intellectual disability - ableism.
If adults spoke to other adults about what they can and can't do based on their financial state or ability to earn, we call it capitalist oppressive.
If a man did it to a woman, we'd call it patriarchal oppression.
If abled people did it to disabled people or people with mental health issues - take away their autonomy and agency, I mean - it would be ableist oppression.
And when it comes to parenting, teaching, or any interaction with children, even the most liberal and left wing adults tend to be ignorant of this power dynamic; or they outright take advantage of it.
Other examples-
If a child is crying and sobbing loudly in public, and we see the parent with an annoyed expression, whom do we sympathize with? The parent or the child?
If a child or a teenager complains about their parent, whom do we defend, whom do we stand with?
If a child told you that they parent hurts them, but an adult told you that their parent doesn't and the child is just making excuses, whose word would you trust?
If an adult is openly mocking, scolding or yelling at a child, do we interrupt the adult and defend the child in front of them? Or do we wait until the child isn't around and then speak to the adult about what they did so as to not hurt their ego?
How many adults would tell a child that if their teacher mistreats them, they have every right to talk back and defend themselves, or file a complaint? How many us would tell the child or teenager that they should ensure that they aren't targetted in the future by being compliant or obedient instead?
How many doctors and psychologists go against their ethics to break confidentiality when it comes to teenagers?
Things that prove the existence of Adult Supremacy:-
- The fact that intersex babies and children are operated on without their consent
- The fact that autistic children, ADHD children, other neurodivergent children, queer children are and can be forced to undergo behaviour therapy and/or conversion therapy even when it is harmful for them
- The fact that adults seem to have the right to verbally, physically, psychologically, and financially abuse children without society batting an eye because it’s "a private, family matter"
- The fact that teachers can and do mistreat students, especially neurodivergent, disabled and queer children in schools with impunity. The fact that school related trauma is considered mental "weakness" or an excuse which children use to not go to school.
- The very existance of the diagnosis "Oppositional Defiance Disorder"
Children do NOT need to be compliant or obedient, no adult should expect blind obedience from children/teenagers
- The ties between adult supremacy and casteism/communalism: of adults wanting to "birth" their own children because they want to continue their bloodline; because they need their children to be "truly theirs" or else "what if they grow up to become uncultured or different" - this shows ownership and moulding children in their own image, stripping away individuality and agency.
- Youngsters aren't allowed to question or have opinions on religion, politics or any "conflicting matters". Children aren't allowed to be exposed to anything that might "taint" them, which has been used to excuse censorship for ages.
- Teenagers who have consensual sex are attacked by parents and society through the misuse of POCSO Act, especially based on religion and caste.
"Kate Millet in 1968 wrote: “The principles of patriarchy appear to be two fold: male shall dominate female, elder male shall dominate younger”."
- No, I don’t care about your opinion on youth liberation; by Alba M (all their articles on Medium are fantastic and powerful)
"Parents advocating for their “right” to arbitrarily punish their children and control their lives are not taking either type of stand. They are not taking a stand that goes against their self-interests and they are not coming to a decision about their values from a place of neutrality. Guardianship and minority give parents power at the expense of their children. There is therefore nothing especially noble or wise about parents arguing for the maintenance of these institutions in their current form - it is simply one example among many of powerful people attempting to protect their interests at the expense of those they have power over. Saying “As a parent I know what is best for my child” is no more noble than saying “As a slave owner I know that emancipation doesn’t suit the Negro” or “As a logging executive I know that we don’t need environmental regulation.” Even if the statements were valid, we would be right to be highly suspect about the motives of the person making the claim. "
- NO! Against Adult Supremacy
"Humans don’t like being controlled. Children, like all humans, resist control. Surely no one as a parent wants to be in charge of controlling people who don’t want to be controlled? This is precisely the struggle that authoritarian parenting creates. Parenting doesn’t need to be you vs them. Just like any relationship (even friendship) one with a foundation of respect is going to be far healthier and connected. Children don’t need to be controlled and forced and punished to learn. Children learn what they live. They learn how to cope with big emotions, conflict, difficulty, everything – from watching you. Modelling the values you hope to see in your children is one of the most powerful things you can do in raising them.
Children don’t need to earn their humanity. Children aren’t humans in training, they are humans right now. They’re not waiting to live their life, this is part of their life in this moment. Society treats children as though they’re preparing for a time where they’re allowed respect – and not before then. Until that time it’s acceptable to treat them as sub-human under the guise of parenting and education. For many, parenting is synonymous with punishment and learning is synonymous with schooling which are both so far off the mark."
"Very frequently I hear that I need to stop judging parents. That I should respect all parenting choices. But I simply cannot respect that which dehumanises and disrespects children. I’ll happily challenge and perhaps bruise the egos of some adults in my efforts for advocate for children.
... The only way this is going to change is if more and more people speak up about the dehumanisation of children. We need to unapologetically advocate for children. We need to bust the myths and break the stigma surrounding treating children with respect."
- How Many Well Intentioned People Dehumanise Children, by Racheous
"Some who support [more] coercive strategies assume that children will run wild if they are not controlled. However, the children for whom this is true typically turn out to be those accustomed to being controlled— those who are not trusted, given explanations, encouraged to think for themselves, helped to develop and internalize good values, and so on. Control breeds the need for more control, which is used to justify the use of control."
- Punished by Rewards, by Alfie Kohn
“Most of those people who talk angrily about saving the family or bringing back the virtues of the family do not see it as an instrument of growth and freedom but of dominance and slavery, a miniature dictatorship (sometimes justified by ‘love’) in which the child learns to live under and submit to absolute and unquestionable power. It is a training for slavery.”
- Escape From Childhood, John C Holt
"As the Stinney Distro project states, “Every hierarchy, every abuse, every act of domination that seeks to justify or excuse itself appeals through analogy to the rule of adults over children.” So if how we think about the adult-child relationship is off, if we entertain or allow any form of abuse or neglect to exist in that relationship, it will have far-spreading ramifications for all other relationships in our world."
- Love Does Not Abuse, The Parenting Philosophy of bell hooks; by R. L. Stollar
