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This is not directly based on social theory but it is definitely something we can all learn from.

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I believe social control can also be world wide. When numbers were going up with bullying more people spoke up and told their stories about what has happened to them. Which encourages more people to speak up!!!

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Body hair is not only natural, it's one of our defining characteristics as mammals. Before birth, we are all covered by a downy layer of hair known as lanugo. Most of us shed that hair by the time we are born. Later, we adopt societal beliefs about male and female body hair.

Conspicuous hair on the arms, legs and elsewhere on the female body, is largely considered undesirable and unattractive. More and more young women, however are making a personal and social statement by choosing not to remove sightly body hair.

Wednesday marks the 6th annual "Day of Pink" - an international event against bullying and discrimination, especially relating to the LGBTQ community. The event will sprout nationwide conversations about social media behaviour, inclusivity, and acceptance along with gender constructs, body shaming and more.

For women with prominent body hair, these concepts are often entangled. While not LGBTQ-specific, it appears the dialogue about body hair is shifting among young adults who are questioning binary concepts of gender and challenging assumed beauty standards.

Jennifer Do, a Toronto-based cosmetics consultant now in her 30s, recalls her teen years and an awareness of the disparity between the dark hair that covered her forearms, and the smooth hairless bodies that she saw on television.

Advertisements devoid of women with visible body hair, encouraged the removal of "unwanted" hair with shaving, waxing and depilatory products. "Commercials made me believe I had to be hairless," she said, along with the hurtful laughs and comments from peers and family during those years.

Do, together with model Markana Minor and fashion design student, Tiffani Colwell, are speaking up about body confidence and bullying in a new body positivity project created by Toronto artist, Chris Pieneman. Do, Minor and Colwell, who all identify as women with hairy arms, share their experiences in a series of online video stories.

Colwell, who endured name calling like "monkey" and "gorilla" in her youth, and who happens to identify as genderqueer, loves participating in this dialogue. "This is something I didn't realize was a relatable experience. It's definitely a valid conversation. We need to strive toward a culture where we are accepting of people's bodies," she says.

Last fall, sportswear company Adidas raised eyebrows with an ad campaign that included a young Swedish woman baring unshaved legs while modelling sneakers in a short lace dress. While the company hailed her boldness on Instagram, the move was met with mixed reviews as the model, Arvida Byström, received responses ranging from "you go girl" to reported rape threats.

Likewise, Canadian fitness personality, Gabby Scheyen, received a combination of negative and supportive comments in response to a bikini beach pic posted on Instagram. The most loyal of her 239K followers were quick to defend her natural beauty, after "Shave your forearms" and "That hair on your arm tho ..." appeared in the comments.

For women who feel more confident and attractive without body hair, there's no shortage of razors, wax strips, and laser treatments available to achieve their desired look. However it's refreshing to see the conversation shifting to one of choice rather than supposition.

At a time when bullies can shatter confidence and damage a person's social acceptance with a few words and the click of a button, it's encouraging to see young women taking online to support one another, and to challenge this generation-old beauty esthetic.

Debbie King is a freelance journalist, writer and one of Canada's top 100 health influencers, helping girls and women lead whole, healthy lives.

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Opinion | Speaking up about beauty, bullying and body hair

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"Conspicuous hair on the arms, legs and elsewhere on the female body, is largely considered undesirable and unattractive. More and more young women, however are making a personal and social statement by choosing not to remove sightly body hair," writes Debbie King.

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Social control can be a positive thing it can create change. Social control is not just with family but with peers and friends as well

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PARKLAND, Fla.-Students around the United States walked off their campuses Friday in solidarity with the 13 victims of the deadly 1999 Columbine High School shooting as part of the newly energized movement to stop school shootings.

Almost simultaneously, a student at an Ocala, Fla., high school was shot in the ankle by a fellow student who dropped the weapon and ran, according to The Associated Press.

Sixty students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School travelled to Littleton, Colo., for a memorial event Thursday on the eve of the 19th anniversary of the shooting, and dozens walked off campus in Parkland on Friday.

"We just want to show that we care for them as they care for us," said 18-year-old senior Ryan Deitsch. "They've been a great help as we transition to a community affected by gun violence."

Deitsch, clutching a bright orange cutout of the word "love" in cursive, led the stream of dozens of students from their campus down the street to a nearby park, where they signed a banner to send to Columbine students. The banner read, "Never Again," the slogan of the anti-gun violence movement sparked after a gunman killed 17 students and staffers at the school in February, interspersed with glittery red footprints.

Lane Murdock, centre in orange, the organizer of the National School Walkout, participates with students in the walkout at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut. Students across the U.S. planned to walk out of classes all day Friday. (JESSICA HILL / The New York Times)

Some critics, particularly those in the comments of the Periscope Parkland activist and student David Hogg streamed on Twitter, asked why the students were protesting an event that happened before any of them were born.

"I think the fact that it happened 19 years ago, and it was expected to be the last thing to ever happen, then we had things like Sandy Hook, Pulse, San Bernardino, is a testament to why we have to walk out. This is a generational thing now," said Hogg, who was born two years after the Columbine shooting. "These things have continued to happen, and they haven't done a thing about it."

The walkouts Friday were sparked by Lane Murdock, a 16-year-old at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, who began an online petition calling for the protest following the February shooting in Parkland that left 14 students and three staff members dead. Walkouts are planned at more than 2,000 schools nationally, Murdock said.

But the scale and scope of the protests appeared to be much smaller than a similar student-led national walkout March 14 and the March for Our Lives rallies that took place in Washington and cities and towns across the country March 24. A number of factors may have contributed to the lower turnout including a lack of promotion and questions about its goals, conflicts with mandatory standardized testing, and, in some cases, protest fatigue among students.

School administrators were also rethinking their approach to the student actions. In many school districts that had encouraged or even facilitated student participation in earlier walkouts or moments of silence on campus, administrators were less inclined to continue accommodating the protests.

"Our principal said if we walked out we would get an unexcused absence and further punishment," said Angelina Lazo, an 18-year-old Stoneman Douglas senior who didn't go to school but showed up for the memorial. "I didn't want to get in trouble."

At 10 a.m. in each time zone, students at dozens of schools left class to take moments of silence honouring the victims at Columbine and other shootings.

From there, some students headed to rallies at their statehouses. Others stayed at school to discuss gun violence. Some are holding voting registration drives.

Hundreds of Washington-area students gathered at a park near the White House, taking 19 minutes of silence for each year that has passed since the Columbine massacre. In New York City, crowds of students gathered in Washington Square Park and lay down in a "die-in."

Aniyah Smith, 17, of Arlington, Virginia, marching in Washington, filled the silence by reading the names of the victims over a megaphone.

"We stopped saying their names a long time ago," she said. "So until the end of this moment of silence, I will continue to repeat their names so you guys don't forget them."

The students then marched to the Capitol for a rally and to deliver letters to lawmakers calling for tougher gun-control measures.

Organizers say there will be walkouts in every state, with more than 2,700 registered on the event's website. Citywide protests are expected to attract thousands in New York City and Austin, Texas. Police in Richmond, Virginia, say they expect at least 10,000 at the state capitol.

Shortly before the walkouts, another school shooting in Florida left one student injured. Authorities say one student shot another in the ankle at Forest High School in Ocala. A suspect was taken into custody.
Read more: Students stage walkouts across U.S. to protest gun violence: 'Enough is enough' U.S. schools brace for walkouts as gun-control rallies take place across country Student walkouts protesting gun violence range from sombre tributes to angry rallies
Hogg was among about 50 students who walked out of Stoneman Douglas after administrators threatened protesters with unexcused absences.

Craig Smith and Terry McGary, both 17-year-old juniors, said they walked out because they want to show respect for the Columbine victims.

"It was a guilt trip to make us not walk out," McGary said about the threat.

Smith said gun violence can "no longer be swept under the covers."

"This is the only way to bring attention to the issue," he said.

The walkouts are the latest in a wave of youth activism that has emerged after the Parkland massacre.

Tens of thousands of students left class March 14 to protest gun violence in what historians called the largest youth protest movement since at least the Vietnam War. Days later, hundreds of thousands of teens and their backers rallied across the U.S. calling for tougher laws on guns and ammunition.

They also have received help from Indivisible, a left-leaning non-profit based in Washington that helps boost grassroots activism. The group says it was formed after the 2016 election to oppose the policies promoted by President Donald Trump.

"We're walking out to remember every single young person who has been killed by American gun violence," Murdock said in a statement Thursday. "We're walking out to talk about the real problems our country is facing, and the solutions that our leaders are too scared to dream up."

Administrators at many schools tacitly allowed the walkouts in March, opting not to punish participants. But some now say the leniency has expired.

At a town hall Monday, the chancellor of New York City's education department urged students not to walk out on Friday.

"You don't need to be out of school all day to make your voices known," Chancellor Richard Carranza told students at Brooklyn Technical High School. "You've already made your voices known. So I'm going to ask you to stay in school."

Some schools in Houston and elsewhere will give students time to share their views but have warned them not to leave campus or return to class late. Some others are holding alternative events after school. Many have simply said students are expected to stay in class throughout the day.

In Littleton, some survivors of the Parkland shooting joined Columbine students for a vigil and rally Thursday evening. But there will be no walkout at Columbine, which has long cancelled classes on the anniversary of the shooting. Instead, students will be called to participate in a day of service.

Principal Scott Christy said in a letter to other schools in his district that April "has long been a time to respectfully remember our loss, and also support efforts to make our communities a better place."

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Student walkouts a call for gun control on Columbine anniversary | The Star

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PARKLAND, Fla.-Students around the United States walked off their campuses Friday in solidarity with the 13 victims of the deadly 1999 Columbine High School shooting as part of the newly energized movement to stop school shootings.

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when you think of a gang you think of a bunch of people who beat up people and sell drugs. But it can also be family oriented a lot of the times when younger kids join gangs its either because someone in that gang has made them feel safe like "family" so they will follow in the foot steps whenever they can.