Prejudice

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Confronting your own prejudices is without a doubt one of the most difficult yet admirable things an adolescent can do. During the teen years, you will often find yourself struggling with strong stereotypes and deeply ingrained biases that you grew up with. And no matter what your head and heart tells you to do, it is often difficult to do or say the right thing.

Prejudice about **race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation and physical ability** harms everyone. The damage to the victim is obvious. But you also suffer. First, it makes you struggle with something that you know is wrong and unfair. Furthermore, prejudices cause you to develop confusion, poor judgment, mistrust and guilt. Self-esteem and self-worth will suffer, and you will not be able to benefit from the teachings and experiences of different people. Remember, in the long run, discrimination will hurt the perpetrator as much or more than it hurts the victim.

Have you suffered from others' prejudice or grappling with your own prejudices?
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Gay Teens and Prejudice
It is no mystery that gay teens in schools are targets for prejudice. Is this an issue in your school? And for more LGBTQ discussions check out our **LGBTQ page**. [|Share your story]

This year marks an anniversary of a study on race and emotion conducted in 1947 where children where shown dolls of varying skin color. A white child looks at a picture of a black child and says she's bad because she's black. A black child says a white child is ugly because he's white. A white child says a black child is dumb because she has dark skin. (Read the original findings.) We'd like to think that we have evolved, but today's findings might shock you. media type="youtube" key="cM8itbL0oXM" height="305" width="383" align="right" To see if times have changed, the study is being conducted again. Check out the results!

In your opinion, are today's youth color blind, or do they have to still overcome racial prejudice?
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What do you think fuels prejudice of any kind? How do you think things can change?
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