Last Sunday while 106.5 million viewers had tuned in to watch the superbowl, myself and a few feminist friends had a potluck and celebrated an "Anti-CBS Superbowl party" where we watched the documentary film, "The Education of Shelby Knox". We held this party/potluck as an expression of disgust and revulsion with CBS for quickly changing its stance on "issue ads".  CBS  then allowing an ad from Focus on the Family starring football player Tim Tebow and his mother while overtly rejecting an ad for a gay dating site. To me this shows a clear bias of CBS and I am really against the position they are taking here. I will admit that after actually seeing the ad that aired, it was not as explicitly anti-choice as I would have expected. However the content of the ad still does not mask that its an advertisement for a blanket homophobic and anti-choice fundamentalist organization - Focus on the Family. I am glad that I had an alternative to watching this superbowl and feeding into to all the frenzy over it.

Although I had vaguely heard of the film bfeore, this was actually my first time seeing it. It completely blew me away. If you have not seen it, YOU SHOULD! Here are just a few reasons why:

1. Watching Shelby Knox journey through high school, develop her own beliefs and challenge the beliefs of those around her is nothing less than phenomenal. It personally reminded me alot about my own struggles through high school as I sought to find out my identity and affirm my own beliefs. I am sure that many other young people could identify with this struggle.

2. The solidarity and openness that Shelby developed between herself and some students in her school's GSA was heartwarming. Shelby had come from a southern baptist family yet she openly struggles with her pastor's and family's views about gay people. In the end, despite warnings from her pastor and family, Shelby goes on to meet with gay young people in her town, helps with their awareness campaign and even protests the virulent homophobic group that comes into her town. You can tell in the film that Shelby was deeply moved during the meeting she set up with some members of her school'sl GSA and some of the story of one gay young man. It was particuarly heartwarming to see Shelby challenge her own religious views and reconcile/re-shape them to agree with her views on human rights and compassion.

3. This film could be really helpful as a teaching tool for sex education, against bullying of LGBTQ youth in schools and about tolerance in general. It is such a timely issue even know years after it was made in 2005. Advocates for Youth and other groups have been successful in creating a grassroots movement for comprehensive sex-education and convince the federal government to pass the REAL Act to increase funding for comprehensive sexual education and eliminate funding for absitnence only education.

4. Lastly, I have to admit that as a feminist my self, it is so inspiring to actually see a film about a young woman that is not defined by her sexuality or with crass gender stereotypes. Shelby is presented as a smart, motivated and determined young woman that fights for what she believes in. I just wish that more young people out there would get to see this movie because of that. Shelby is not just a great example of a campaigner for sex education and LGBTQ rights but she is also an example of an empowered young woman. I plan on showing this film to my middle-school aged sister as soon as I possibly can, because I am
always looking for examples to show her alternatives and what it means to be a strong woman.

5. Finally, I also wanted to emphasize how this film illustrates the importance of supportive parents. Although Shelby's parents did not always agree with what she was doing they still supported her and her right to be her own person. To me that was extremely powerful just because I believe that there are so many lessons just in that, that not only translate to parenting but also with people in general.

The Education of Shelby Knox is now going on the list of one of my favorite movies! I definitely want to share this film with as many people as I can and I am still thinking of how to do that. I am thinking maybe a screening on campus at the women's resource center or something like that.

Furthermore, I thought that this would be a nice time to point out that Shelby Knox has/had a blog here on Amplify, check it out!  She also had done some writing for RH Reality Check and other blogs, so please check her out! 

Resources:

Here is a great interview that gives some background information about the film:
http://thefilmpanelnotetaker.com/2009/01/stranger-than-fiction-education-of.html