By: Allyn Villahermosa"Take whoever loves you, no one will care anyway." -From the Palme d’Or award-winning film, Blue is the Warmest Color.
Every individual may encounter a different kind of love as each and everyone unravel his/her given journey. According to the Japanese Myth, there’s this “someone” who is connected from you with a red string: this “someone” is believed to be your soul mate, the one that is destined to be with you. But what if that “someone” is 10 years ahead of you, 15 years or 30 years? Will your age gap with that “someone” matter or not? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, pedophilia is a sexual feeling or activity that involves children or people who are much younger than the other person. People often consider this relationship out of lust but there are those who still believe that these kinds of relationship are out of love. However, in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), the American Psychological Association (APA) drew a very distinct line between pedophilia and pedophilic disorder. Pedophilia refers to a sexual orientation or profession of sexual preference devoid of consummation, whereas pedophilic disorder is defined as a compulsion and is used in reference to individuals who act on their sexuality. APA’s decision has given rise to numerous pedophilia-advocacy groups, the chief of them being B4U-ACT, a non-profit grassroots organization based in Maryland. Created in 2003 primarily as a means for “minor-attracted persons” to be open about their sexual preferences in a supportive atmosphere, B4U-ACT is now widening the scope of their organization. According to spokesperson and registered sex offender Paul Christiano, the pedophilia-advocacy group is “working towards de-stigmatizing the mental health community.” Christiano explained that negative societal attitudes towards minor-attracted persons “trickle down to policy-making and the mental health community.” We are living in an eccentric-like society which comprises up-to-the-beat individuals whose power is with their freedom to speak, which is also often exercised by the use of the internet. Rants, stories, and everything are shared through different social media sites where an individual has his/her opportunity to gain sympathy or to bash another person. Hence, media sites nowadays are the tool that enables an individual to express his/her freedom and be acknowledged by the community, be accepted of what he/she is and be heard by his/her fellow. Hence, rules and laws can be changed everytime but no one can ever dictate whom you’ll fall and invest your feelings with. In the end, you are a person born with rights-- which is to live, learn, and love… and no one will care anyway.
0 Comments
Opinion by: Christelle MarambaIn this era, where Social Media practically dictates every aspect of our life, we find ourselves finding value in Likes, Follows, Views and Shares. We think of ourselves as important when we get more than a hundred likes or we find ourselves deleting our posts when it only gets five or so likes because we feel ashamed. Why do we do this?
According to some studies, humans have a big tendency to be “sheep” or follow the herd or follow the trend, and the trend is social media. Humans also have the unending craving for attention and acceptance. Put them together and some people look for self-worth and acceptance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social apps. I once overheard two friends conversing next to me and they were talking about Facebook likes and how much they got on their latest profile picture. One of them got over 200 likes while the other only had less than a hundred. The one with fewer likes said, “WOW! You have so many likes, you are so popular and you have many friends.” I don’t have a problem with people who have many FB likes, but I do have a problem with people who view them differently just because of the number of thumbs up they got on a picture. Social Media is not a machine used to measure acceptance and self-worth. Social Media is created to connect with other people and to share with the world our talents and uniqueness. Don’t think for one second that your self-worth is measured in Likes, Follows, Views and Shares. Social media is virtual. Likes and Follows won’t get you anywhere in the real world. Look for your self-worth in real friends, family and anywhere but social media, you will find yourself happier. |
Archives
September 2016
Categories |