End Metallophobia (previously named 'Fear of a metal planet')

This is something a young woman published about how the myths surrounding rape and assault are perpetuated.

This is the actual article that was in the New York times that sparked outrage from writer Melissa Cambell of Sparksummit.com (pardon the pun). A note was made about how the victim was dressed and how she behaved around boys, though it was quoted from the neighbours of the victim. It was like, “Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?” Only a short mention was made of the attackers' backgrounds (some of which were from more priveleged back grounds, while others already had criminal records). Understandably, such an incident would divide a community, but the comments about the boys was like, "how could their young men have been drawn into such an act?" and “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.” As if the welfare of the assailants mattered more to that community than that of the victim. And while I am an 'outsider looking in', reading this article (and know nothing first hand of this incident), my initial answer to the first question...

I have copied and pasted this blog entry onto the End Metallophobia blog (from my regular Night Owl blog).  Even though it is not specifically relevant to heavy metal, I think it is important to understand we all have times in our lives where we are bullied in some form or another, and we all have our 'breaking points'.  In particular, metalheads who have been bullied and can relate to it will enjoy it.  A few weeks' ago, this youngster (a 15 year-old boy from St Mary's, NSW, Australia) was on the news. He didn't do anything particularly 'extraordinary' but his actions had extraordinary outcomes for many people who could relate to his story, who are surprised what they are capable of when they decide to fight back. It shows that we all have our breaking point, and even though none of us wants to reach it, sometimes it is a necesary evil Casey Heynes was one such person who, for most of his life, was bullied for being overweight, but when he hit high school...

How to Stop Being Mean to People - wikiHow Anyone can stop being mean (as in cruel, vindictive or nasty), as in 'outright mean' but we all have 'mean' thoughts about people, which drive us to be mean to them. It is also easy to be mean to others if you, yourself, feel put down also. It is hard to be positive when you feel there is not much to be positive about, and expecially if you are being negated by someone. A few ways to be nicer to others (or not being mean) are to improve your own self esteem, to find a reason to feel good about yourself, and be kind (or kinder) to yourself. Another way is to feel 'sorry' for the other person, to ask yourself why they *feel* the need to put yourself down, or if you feel the need to put them down, ask yourself why? It doesn't mean you have to be deferential to that person, but you can be civil. For instance, if you find them annoying for some reason, ask them (very kindly) to do something differently (eg, if they ar...

Basically talks about that *really* hideous fashion, the 'saggy pants' look. This fashion (if you could call it that), has been around since the early 1990's, when jeans were 'supersized', and they fell down to show one's buttocks and underwear.  They were originally worn by hip hop/rap artists and fans, but were also adopted by skaters, some grunge artists, and (sad to say) some headbangers (particularly those who like death metal/grindcore and nu-metal).  Here is the run-down on the history of 'saggy pants' by Janice Breen: Early 1990s Hip-hop artists adopt pants like ''one-size-fits-all'' prison garb worn by ''brothers'' home from jail. The ''homeboy'' look fits with post-prison six-packs and hot underwear brand Calvin Klein. Mid-1990s Saggy pants slip into mainstream fashion. Waistbands drop each year. By early 2000s, almost the whole boxers are on show, crotches drop to knees. Rumours the look is ...

By Laine Michelle Allen (a friend on Facebook) Share Yesterday at 06:55 OMG where do I start....There's been a few things said about the rock scene lately that is really getting to my nerves and I had to get this off my chest.... Despite the fact one of my dad's favourite bands is ACDC he was being a bit of a smart ass to me and my cousin when he tried to prove rock bands don't last long.... so he asked "Name one band that has lasted over 10 years..... As much as I love my dad, my cousin and I shot him down in flames as the list went on: ACDC, motley crue, gunners, iron maiden, judas priest, bonjovi, kiss, dokken, megadeth, metallica, skid row.... omg the list just goes on. DANCE PEOPLE: Can you name any pop group who has been going for nearly twenty years, still producing albums to this day AND DOES NOT USE MUSIC ENHANCING to make themselves sound good. Another point of mine: half of it is remixes and voice enhancing effects to the point where I reckon with the t...

Article Review: Took, K, J and Weiss, D, S (1994), ‘The Relationship between Heavy Metal and Rap and Adolescent Turmoil: Real or Artefact? In Adolescence, Volume 29, Number 115, Fall 1994 ; pages 613-621 This journal article illustrates the relationship between preferences for Heavy Metal and/or Rap music, and difficulties during adolescence. Both the teenaged subjects and their parents were interviewed, and the teenagers were asked about their current 'psychosocial functioning' and their music preferences. The group of subjects who liked Heavy Metal and Rap were compared to a group of adolescents who liked other types of music. The focus of concern was the increasingly explicit references to drugs, sex and violence, and Heavy Metal and Rap have come under the most scrutiny from religious, political, parents' and medical groups, which were likely to affect the minds of children and young people. Heavy Metal music (a particular type of hard rock) often attracted concern ...

Binder, Amy: Constructing racial rhetoric: Media depictions of harm in heavy metal and rap; American Sociological Review; Dec 1993; 58, 6; ABI/INFORM Global; pg. 753 This article refers to the depictions of Heavy Metal and Rap in the Media, framed in terms of cultural beliefs. In other words, the portrayal of both music genres by the media is negative, and much of the moral panic surrounding the music has been generated by groups such as the PMRC (Parents' Music Resource Centre) and Moral Majority in the USA.  For those of you old enough to remember, the whole fiasco began in the mid-1980's when a group of politician's wives, who called themselves the PMRC, attended the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.  Their objective was to reveal the 'sexually explicit' content in many rock lyrics, and most of these were Heavy Metal lyrics.  Their position was that such music filled young peoples' ears with violence and pornography, and glori...

Even though I am neither emo, nor a MCR fan, I still support other peoples' rights to listen to whatever they want. I was a Heavy Metal fan (and a Judas Priest fan in particular), and this same controversy was happening well over two decades ago. The only big difference is that we didn't have Internet access back then, and therefore could not reach a variety or magnitude of people like we can now. My signature no is 8692 http://www.petitiononline.com/sign4mcr/

Shows a BBC report on a protest march by some goths in England, who are being persecuted, picked on and bullied by Chavs. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=194393410206&subj=624250206 Here is another news report on the subject(on the BBC) - someone recorded it on their mobile, so the quality isn't so great.

Gold Coast becoming Schoolies hot spot National - Regional Telstra BigPond News and Weather Schoolies and 'toolies' may or may not be heavy metal fans, but this the relevance to metal is that it is relevant to youth issues and peer group themes.