#GirlsShitToo

A Visit From Ms. Brooks

That night, there was a knock on the door after dinner, and I answered it, surprised to see Ms. Brooks. "Is this a bad time?" she asked. "I'd like to sit down with you and your mom."

"Come in," I said. Then all of us, including Roy, sat down around the coffee table, where Mom served us all decaf coffee.

Ms. Brooks sipped some from her mug before starting to talk, telling Mom and Roy she thought what Runsberger was doing was completely unfair. She ended by saying, "I wish I could defend Dallas more than I have, but I don't want to risk losing my job." Her face turned to me, and she said, "I'm sorry."

"It just doesn't seem like there is anything that can be done," said Mom. "Maybe a project called Girls Shit Too really wasn't a good idea for a school class."

"Judy," Ms. Brooks asked. "Have you seen a video on Youtube called 'Potty-mouthed Princesses Drop F-bombs for Feminism'?" I grinned, because I knew where she was going with this. I loved that video by FCKH8.

As I expected, Mom shook her head no.

"It's a brilliant video where they filmed bunch of young girls stating facts about injustices that women face, but the girls lace the f-word into everything they say. Most of the reactions to the video are from people who are completely offended that whoever directed the video had these innocent little girls saying one of the most vulgar curse words in the English language. But those same people don't realize how ridiculous they look when they're complaining about the fact that a little girl is saying, 'One in fucking five girls will be sexually assaulted in their lives,' and not by the fact that one in five girls will be sexually assaulted in their lives. The video even tells viewers, in the beginning, that its purpose is to illuminate how some people are more offended by these little girls cussing than they are by the injustices these girls might come to face in their lives unless our society changes, but some people still don't get it. They continue to hate the video for the cussing."

"So what are you trying to say?" Mom asked, her voice more tender.

"I'm trying to show you that Mr. Runsberger is offended by the surface and so he's failing to look deeper. Actually, I suspect he won't look deeper. That he's using the 'problems' with the surface as a convenient excuse to prevent your daughter from doing something that men like him see as a threat to the patriarchy. Men like him don't want girls like Dallas threatening the traditions that keep them dominant. If you want to help your daughter, you have a solid argument against him: her assignment was for my class, and it meets my guidelines. He can't force her to terminate. But she needs you to back her up. You are her parent, and he will have you submit if he thinks he can. But if he knows he can't, then he will back down."

"What can I say to him?" Mom asked.

"Have you heard of Title IX?"

"It sounds familiar..."

"It was signed into law by Nixon, and it states that girls and boys must be treated equally in all federally funded educational programs."

"How does that help us?"

Ms. Brooks continued, "He told me and Dallas that girls can't cuss because ladies need to act like ladies. When I asked him if he felt the same way about boys, he said, 'Boys will be boys.' It isn't much, but it's a start. He is sexist; he doesn't treat girls and boys equally. Proving that will be the hard part."

"I have an idea," said Mom, her eyes widening. "When I was called into the office on Monday..." she looked at me, "...you told me you didn't start the disruption to the assembly. Well, I knew Dylan took a video of the assembly—I follow him on Twitter—so I went and watched it. And of course you didn't start it. I knew you hadn't. And it made my blood boil to think about how you were getting in trouble for it, when it was so evident it had nothing to do with you. Especially at the end of the video, right before Dylan shut it off. Because one of the football players cussed when he was speaking to Mr. Runsberger. It didn't look like he got in trouble."

I remembered: Fucking Delaney. "Dennis Hepler!"

"So maybe we can threaten him. To show that part of the video to the world, or at least the school board," Mom continued. I couldn't believe it: Mom was taking charge. Fighting fire with fire. And her flames were brilliant!

"I think that might actually work," Ms. Brooks said. "He wasn't looking too happy today after that article."

And I was in more disbelief: now Ms. Brooks was agreeing we should blackmail him, the same way he blackmailed us. Using force, fighting for dominance. Things she hated. "So you think it's okay to fight fire with fire?" I asked her.

"Sometimes we have to. I hope you know... I never said we should dismiss Aristotle's persuasive tactics altogether, Dallas. When I argued to have a second option for the senior paper, I delivered a traditional Aristotelian argument. It was necessary. But maybe someday we can all find ways to cooperate and compromise. Actually compromise."

"There is no compromising with that man," Mom said. "So how do we use the Title IX thing you were talking about?"

"You can imply that you're thinking about filing a complaint for discrimination. That you'll take it to the school board. Not just about the cussing suspension, but also for the project termination. What other reason, aside from the cussing, does he have to shut down her project? Maybe he doesn't like the topic. Maybe he doesn't like Dallas writing about equality. You don't know...but you have your suspicions, and you think the whole thing is unfair."

A conspiratorial smile formed on Mom's face.