Music shaming at McCallum High School?

 A student currently attending McCallum overhears a classmate being teased for liking thrash metal, they were saying things like "ew, she likes that?" or "she's so emo!" which then resulted in unnecessary music shaming. 

 Like all people our music tastes differ from one another, just like our personalities. Many think that a combination of our social environments and our "nature" can influence our musical tastes. Does this give anyone the right to put others down for liking certain kinds of music? of course not! This is what music shaming is, basically the act of criticizing someone for having musical preferences that differ from your own. It is seen/experienced so often that it is not recognized as being much of a problem yet it definitely is, for instance you wouldn't criticize someone for liking a burger with cheese just because you like yours plain. So does music shaming happen at McCallum?

 To be sure I went to our freshman class president Isabella Hernandez to ask her thoughts and experiences on the matter. "My music taste varies from Alternative pop and I've been exposed to many classic rock due to my dad always playing Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and many other amazing bands and musicians" Hernandez says. I found this to be important because it goes back to how some of our favorite music is due to our influences. She also states that she has "never experienced direct shaming" for her music tastes, yet she also mentioned how people assume her personality based on her choice in music and stereotyping her, which she said happened at McCallum, so she concludes by saying "Yes I have experienced some shaming for my music".

 I then went to senior Maddie Moore to see if she had any experiences in music shaming or has seen it happen. "My favorite type of music is mostly electronic and though I have experienced music shaming at McCallum, it has never been at all extreme. It's mostly just comments like 'that isn't real music' ect."

 Though both Moore and Hernandez have experienced music shaming in some form. Me and many others feel the same pressure mentally like when someone new asks "what type of music do you like?" I or someone else might say something they don't mean because they don't want to deal with another persons judgement.

 I do believe that music shaming happens at McCallum to a lot of students and should be recognized more for being a type of bullying if it were to ever result in a fight, or put someone down mentally. "why start an argument when you don't have to." Moore says