Riley Pierce, Noah Bunting, Ashley Rohrs, and Avery Cook
eSomethin Staff
Social media can be a place of dangerous anonymity that can allow users to be terrible to one another with no repercussions. Perrysburg High School learned this yesterday when a Twitter account was created which made hateful comments about female students at the school.
The tweets written about these girls were unacceptable. However, out of this hate came an amazing response of Perrysburg students, all of show the named girls that the hateful speech directed at them was unfounded.
A positive version of the Perrysburg “GirlsRanked” account came out shortly after word spread about negative tweets. Many students were moved to tears with the positive, moving words:
“Ladies, you are not you according to men. You are not the numbers on the scale, or the notches on a measuring tape, or the numbers on your jeans. You are not how clear your skin is or what shape your nose is, or how much makeup you wear. You are measured in the love you give, the memories you create, the volume of your laughter, the seconds spent helping others, the smiles you generate, the praise you give, the pleases-and-thank-yous, the pencils you lend others, the ‘I love you’s’ and the ‘I’m here if you need anything’s.’ Random men do not decide who you are or how others perceive you. That is all up to you. You are the only person allowed to determinate your value.”
Tweet from @PHSGirlsRanked, the positive Twitter account response
In addition, a Perrysburg High School student, Nikki Nix, tweeted, “A lot of hateful and hurtful things were said today, but because of it, I’ve seen so many girls who don’t even know each other or may not even like each other come together to support one another and I think that’s really cool.”
Many Perrysburg students responded to speak against this page and came together to cheer up anyone targeted.
Grace Davis, a Perrysburg High School senior, tweeted back on the detestable tweets, saying, “I am absolutely disgusted that we go to school with people who are intentionally trying to bring others down. Girls, you are so beautiful and these rankings mean nothing. You are so much more than this. No person deserves this treatment.”
Perrysburg High School realized an important lesson yesterday — mean tweets are not how Perrysburg should be remembered. It’s up to the students and community to make sure it doesn’t. No matter what hatred and ugliness get thrown around, we, as a community, will not tolerate it. We will have each other’s backs and refuse to let others define us as a whole. Love is actually all around us and we will let it define us.
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