Gender neutrality, Pocahontas costumes and talking back to Essena: This week from HS Insider

Every week, we bring you a roundup of students’ stories from High School Insider. Students from more than 100 Southern California schools contribute to High School Insider and post their stories on latimes.com. If you – or your students – have stories to tell and would like to participate, check out this link.

Gender neutrality coming to a Target near you

Gender neutrality is the next social movement, argues Catherine Vasquez (South East). She reports on how Target is changing its stores to be more gender neutral and that the store “is not forcing anyone to change their sexual orientation; it simply gives preference and comfort as to what people buy.” Another student at South East agrees. “If a boy wants to play with a Barbie or a girl wants to play with a truck, who cares?” said Jason Franco, a senior. “The child is oblivious of what society defines [as] normal. The toy is making them happy regardless if it [is] meant for boys or girls. Wake up, America! We aren’t killing people here; we are simply promoting equality.”

How cultural appropriation ruined Halloween

Wearing “an Indian ‘costume,’ a gypsy ‘costume,’ a geisha ‘costume’ is delegitimizing someone else’s culture and marginalizing it down to nothing but a trend for the consumption of the privileged,” writes Gabby Sones at Foothill Technology. “Pocahontas and Pancho Villa are common examples of a legitimate struggle being amounted to satire. The most disgusting part is that most people don’t even realize the adversity at hand. That’s why the first step to dismantling cultural appropriating is understanding the culture and its origins before assuming it for yourself.”

Teens on Essena and the dark side of social media

For a 19-year-old model with more than half a million Instagram followers, swearing off social media might sound like a bad career move. But that is exactly what Australian social media star Essena O’Neill did on Oct. 31, claiming it created a “brainwashed generation” and false impressions of body image. And as a result, for a brief moment, she may be even more famous. “ ‘Social media is ubiquitous, and so very addicting, when entertainment and social validation are just a few taps away. And because it’s through a screen, we can build new personalities on social networking sites,’ as O’Neill said,” writes Simone Chu (Arcadia). “We can put on new personas, pretend to be living the dream life — and, as she said, it’s stupid.”

Interested in getting your school involved with HS Insider? Write to daniela.gerson@latimes.com for more details.

Twitter: @dhgerson