Prom is Watch This Ain't Ghostbusters XXX Parodya rite of passage for American teens. It's also a ritual that fills far too many young people with anxiety.
That's what DoSomething.org, a nonprofit organization that gets youth involved in social change campaigns, discovered when it started researching how teens felt about prom. The organization found millions of Google search results related to prom anxiety.
"Prom is supposed to be a celebratory event and a cultural moment for young people."
Teens were taking their worries about drinking, sex, and rejection to the internet. Students of limited means agonized over the cost. LGBTQ youth were anxious about being forbidden to attend prom, particularly with a same-sex or gender-nonconforming date. Interracial couples feared discrimination, or had already experienced it.
The anecdotes prompted DoSomething.org to solicit prom-related discrimination stories from some of its 5 million members. They received a thousand submissions within a few weeks. That outpouring led the organization to launch "Take Back the Prom," a multi-faceted campaign to make the annual spring dance as inclusive as possible.
"Prom is supposed to be a celebratory event and a cultural moment for young people," says Carrie Bloxson, chief marketing officer of DoSomething.org. "If we want to do it in the right way, we need to be mindful of the fact that this generation reflects a number of diversities we might not have had [in years past]. We can all agree that prom could use an update for 2019 and beyond."
The campaign features a crowdsourced map of prom discrimination incidents to which any student can contribute. It's designed to preserve anonymity, so the map only documents accounts at the state level rather than providing school- or city-specific information. The point is to show that prom discrimination happens in every state across the nation, says Bloxson.
For students who want to change prom culture for the better, the campaign offers resources on how to talk to school administrators about replacing the outdated tradition of electing a king and queen with new gender-inclusive prom courts. Bloxson says school officials may stick with certain rituals because it's what they experienced growing up; they don't realize how those rules and expectations exclude students who'd like to participate.
Via GiphyMeanwhile, the campaign's clothing donation drive is collecting gently-used formal wear, including dresses, suits, and shoes, to distribute to teens who might otherwise skip prom given the cost of purchasing an outfit.
"Prom should be for everybody," says Bloxson.
While the campaign's goal is to make prom inclusive, DoSomething.org also realized that teens get anxious about the event regardless of whether they feel welcome. So the organization opened up an "anxiety textline" that youth can contact for advice and guidance (text PROM to 38383). DoSomething.org staff, college students, and LGBTQ youth operating the line are prepared to talk about subjects like sex, drinking, body image, and not having a date. Messages about sensitive concerns, including urgent mental health issues, will be immediately routed to Crisis Text Line, a sister organization to DoSomething.org.
The Take Back the Prom campaign runs through June 30. Bloxson says that if it generates enough interest, DoSomething.org may look at expanding its inclusion efforts to homecoming.
"The good thing," she says, "is we have a template now for how to make change."
Topics Activism Social Good
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