So as few of you know, I'm an actress.
Over the past month, I've been working on a play called Feathers in the Wind.
I won't bother you with details, but it's about bullying in high school. In this play it focuses on sexuality slurs, religous and cultural difference. It has been emotional tattering for me because for some of those scenes, not only do you have to sell it, it really gives me the shivers.
Anyway, due to the importance the administration puts on this topic, (we even had a three day seminar on this topic by a lecurer specializing in this topic) we did two performances for the school. Unfortunaly, we had a delay due to the nonexistantant fog. This prompted a student at my school to say something to the effect that he was glad he didn't have to see the "gay dumb-ass play."
I hadn't seen this in the morning, but when I arrived to school I heard all the cast talking about the status and all the comments on it, so naturally I looked it up when I got home. 31 comments. Several from the cast members. These were lengthly comments too. But mostly what I saw on this thread was how important and non-important they thought this topic was and how several of the students commenting had tried to kill themselves due to bullying. The main topic in this thread was whether the problem was with students and their lack of self-confidence, and whether they should change or not. Several students supported the play and anti-bullying.
This is my message.
I have been bullied. Often. In my childhood, it got so bad I would fake sick in order to go home and get away from it. It got to a point where my mother told the administration not to even bother calling her unless I was running a fever or throwing up. At this point I don't even remember why I was being bullied. It lessened as the years went on, but I still have very large self-confidence issues. It really bothered me readin some of the comments in that thread about how one cast member was called fat and developed an eating disorder, not to mention tryed to commit suicide. She is one of the most healthliest looking person I know. I however am not skinny of any sort. That's not my self-confidence talking, according to my BMI and height weight charts, I am overwight or whatever you want to call it. So it bothers me when I hear she was bullied and is bullied for her weight. It also bothers me when I see art or ads, or music videos with "fat" individual in them. Becuase those people? They aren't fat. They are healthy and, sure bigger than most, but not fat. I also bothers me when people complain about their "fat" arm or stomach. YOU AREN'T FAT! You know what fat is? Rolls. Handfuls of excessive weight. Armfuls of excessive weight. So people tell you, lose it. No, wait you don't need to lose it, gain confidence, embrace it! Did anyone stop to consider we CAN'T lose it? Not that we don't chose to, some people do. Trust me I would love to be healthy and have a flat tum-tum, especially with my family's history of heart disease, diabetes, etc. But, not only are my genetics working against me, I have a "condition" that also causes me to gain weight. Just like some people can't gain weight, sometimes, we can't lose it. But aside from all of that guess what? I was still nominated for homecoming queen, I still have close friends, and I still have several groups of different friends. I still act. And while you may be saying, Ah a good ending,
That's what other people think of me.
It's all true. But they don't know, like I don't know what happens when they are alone, that I tear myself up. Inside where they can't see. Emotional, Mentally, Physically. Those people who target me because they think I have it all, keep me up all night, make me chew my lips, and cheeks until they are raw, and cut, and sore, until they bleed. But that's not so bad right? It can't kill me, so it's not seroius right? So, sorry if I dare take satification from my acting, from their pain, from seeing them seperated from a group when it's exactly what they were trying to do to me. The way I do it is I know that thankfully there are actual people, with influence that believe in this stuff, and they realize what is happening and they reach out. I'm sorry if you see this and think it's stupid.
Because if you can't accept what someone is, or what they are doing to help, I'm sorry.
You'll just never understand.