At bars, are men now more cautious of being creepy toward women than they were years ago? If a joke tests one’s beliefs, should they speak up? Social justice is enmeshed in language, behaviour, and ideologies. Whether with emphasis or not noticeable, it intertwines in every relationship.
Ry Sword Avola (they/he), a Youth Program Facilitator for the YWCA in Metro Vancouver, leads other facilitators through the Dating Safe program curriculum. The program is available to students in grades eight to ten in two schools in Vancouver and Surrey. Avola’s undergraduate degree in Social Justice and Peace Studies drives their passion to expand social justice initiatives into relationship education.
“The way that I bring that into Dating Safe is not just to talk about having healthy romantic relationships, or healthy situations where we’re getting involved in maybe sexual interactions with each other, but looking at relationships as a whole,” they say.
Social justice movements are so vast that they impact many types of relationships through gender, race, and sexual orientation equality. Relationships within the community of Vancouver and its minority groups are prominent examples of the modern drive toward justice.
“And so that includes to the land and to the people whose lands we’re on if we’re living on stolen land,” they say. “And so unpacking settler colonialism and racism as a structure that’s built a lot of the society around us as a framework for engaging in what does it mean to build healthy relationship skills.”
In addition to supporting its Indigenous community in efforts for reconciliation, Vancouver also has strong support for its large LGBTQ2S+ population. The city is home to the Davie Street Village, the greatest example of LGBTQ2S+ culture in BC since the ‘70s. Today, places of acceptance are expanding to schools through rainbow crosswalks, LGBTQ2S+ flags in business windows, and school curriculums.
“A lot of young people have a lot more information and, in general, identify more as queer and trans. But there’s also a push towards some more conservative views. And there are a lot of young people that are turning towards anti-trans movements, and young boys that are being radicalized by anti-feminist men online,” they say.
“So there is this polarizing dynamic that feels pretty present in schools, where you have a lot more open Trans and Queer Youth. You have a lot more youth that are well versed in feminist and anti-racist language.”
Avola notes that bullying stems from forms of systematic oppression, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism. Thus, social justice movements are becoming more attentive to all relationships, whether that be romantic, familial, or professional, to generate change. Consequently, Avola says that relationships in youth will improve from more inclusive power structures.
“A big thing is safety for people who are experiencing that violence and experiencing marginalization, whether it’s about their sexuality or their gender. But that’s also wrapped up in race, and culture, and religion. And so, I think there needs to be relationship-based education in schools that is talking about the ways that violence shows up for students,” Avola says.
“We’ve had anti-bullying campaigns, but bullying has always been a depoliticized idea. We don’t talk about why people are bullied. It’s just like, oh, you know, you’re gonna get targeted and picked on if you’re viewed as weak.”
The continuation of bullying shows that for social justice to become more prevalent, there is still a need for advocacy to advance equality movements. As an aspect of social justice, relationships have not been a key focus point in calls to action. Since they intersect in all facets of life, relationships in all forms may be a factor in making significant changes.
“There’s a connection that moves from our inner world to our outer world, you know, if I have a good relationship with myself, maybe more likely to have a good relationship with the people closest to me. If I have good relationships with the people closest to me, then that will ripple out to the way that I show up just in the street and the community,” says Avola.
Ultimately, social justice begins at an individual level because of its intersectionality within relationships. Community-wide personal adjustments are what will empower social justice action most.
“If I’m in good relationships there,” says Avola, “then maybe, that collective idea and the feeling of community means we’re going to fight for each other more, we’re going to listen to each other more, we’re going to then ripple that out into the way that we structure policy and think about institutions.”
