Home	That's the daily media opinion: what's yours? Is there anything worthwhile under the hood? Note: This is a positive campaign for a just and reasonable attitude towards young people. Not a negative attack on any people or groups. Inflammatory messages will not be posted. The opinions of individuals expressed here do not necessarily reflect Clubs for Young People's view. Send a message of support - one word or 200! I'm delighted that you have initiated this campaign. Every individual, in the name of fairness and social justice, is entitled to be judged on their own merits and not stereotyped in this way. The legal system would have a field day if we applied this stereotyping to women, BME or disabled people, although I fear they are probably included in this broad sweep about young people. Kate Clements, Youth Work Adviser, Government Office for the North West hi, this is steph a member of the youth parliament. I'm the UKYP representitive for Mid Cheshire and I agree! It's ridiculous! Society only see the negative things that a fraction of young people do rather than the positives that the majority do! With being a member of UKYP I tend to hear a lot of the good stuff that young people do and it's really annoying that these things don't get recognised as widely. Steph, UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) I Like the campaign. Its about time we stopped all this scapegoating! The local media is currently whipping it self up it a frenzy here in Liverpool with the Liverpool Echo. Hardly an edition of the paper gets released without a headline of Yobs and ASBOs with not one positive story about young people at risk of exclusion. How about linking the letter to your MP with the site www.theyworkforyou.com so you can fax your MP directly. John Fox, Merseyside Youth Association Limited Negative images of young people in the press only add to over-reactions and moral panics in society. This in turn isolates young people futher. Just because a young person wears a certain item of clothing does not make them a 'yob' or a criminal. Labelling is unproductive and divisive, this kind of media representation is both. I am sure many of the people writing these articles were involved in various kinds of youth culture in their teens and their twenties. Every generation of young people has its own culture and every time there is an over-reaction in the press. Paul Claride, Development Manager (Central England), CYP I have forwarded this message to all young people involved in UKYP Cheshire and asked them, in turn to disribute to as many young people as possible. Gill Clark, Youth Voice, Cheshire CC I believe young people are victims of media grooming and sensationalism. I have worked with young people for many years and receive the respect back that I give to them. Regarding the hooded tops. I used to wear a snorkel jacket, called this because of the zip that zipped up to the forehead and eyes would do battle to peek through the snorkelled opening, a dubious choice I realise now but it seemed like a good idea at the time and I was young. I think we are fighting the wrong enemy and the media is guilty of bullying young people and patronising the public by it’s pathetic propaganda. Tracey Craze, Children’s Rights worker, Barnardo's Young people are an easy target for the media to demonise and clothing is just one more way of getting at them. Whether its teddy boys, mods, rockers or goths the media will always add young people to the agenda. It's interesting to note that there are more ASBO's in the thirty plus age bracket than in the below twenty five bracket. Dee Bolan, Youth Worker I think this campaign is an excelent idea and I hope it does really well. I am part of the boston Youth Council and Lincolnshire Youth Cabinet as well as being a Member of the UK Youth Parliament and it is an issue that I here young people raise regularly through all the groups and in general day-to-day work. It needs tackling and the sooner the better. I am building a website on behalf of the young people of Boston to help promote them and their views as well as give them positive media. It will include success stories, projects and other good youth work that has heppened aswell as giving the young people of Boston somewhere that is there own that will give them details of events! Anyway, I just wanted to applaud you on your good work and say that I fully believe in your cause. Peter Dickson, Boston Youth Council I agree that the majority of media coverage of children and young people vilifies them. We, at Halton Children's Fund, have been working hard locally to get an alternative view into the media, celebrating their achievements and successes, some of which has been covered nationally. Keep up the good work Pauline Ruth Fantastic initiative and we are hoping that our Millennium Volunteers will get involved. Roy Redhead, BTCV Millennium Volunteers Project Officer This is good news! Young people here have met with the Editor of Nottingham's Evening post - and a raft of measures have been agreed including consultation with governance groups when reporting on youth matters,training for young people,support with the youth magazine and a monthly youth page on the Evening Post. Also the City Council has agreed to deliver media training to young people,and finally elected members are putting together shadowing opportunities and joint surgeries with young people..phew,so lots of good stuff happening! Darren Cashin, Nottingham City Youth Engagement Unit With the media circus rounding on young people, telling anyone who'll listen that they're anti-social, drinking, drug-taking idiots who do nothing but destroy community harmony, and commit crime, what is all this achieving? An increase in class division, huge amounts of stress and society looking down on young people from all sides. (And it's proven that young people are more likely to be victims or crime, rather that the perpetrators.) Callum McKayle, Uk Youth Parliament Totally agree with you Allen Etheridge, Operations Manager, East Sussex CC It is easy to scapegoat young people. We're a society obsessed with blame shifting. Its everybody's fault but mine. The cracks are becoming more evident in a disintegrating sociey so hey! lets blame the kids. How sad! How simplistic! How wrong! What kind of world are we giving our kids? look at the example we've set them. The problems a minority of young people have been party to (and there are some) are a mere symptom of a deeper wound. Give them a future they deserve, recognise the potential within young people to be agents of social change. Don't blame, ban or marginalise them. Paul, youth worker, Coleraine http://livingloud.typepad.com I fully support your campaign and I am outraged at such dicrimination against young people for wearing clothes they feel comfortable in. Young people are judged on everything they do or say, places they hang around, people they hang around with, jobs they do or don't do, education, etc. Young people are given a hard enough time in society today so leave them alone to wear what they want and let's make this world a happier place for all young people to feel part of not a part from!! Good luck with the campaign. Lynsey, youth worker, Merseyside Can't these kids just wear another form of clothing, or maybe just take their hoods off when indoors? Chris Think you might have missed the point, Chris (above). We're not really concerned that young people will miss out on their shopping unless they give up their hoods. We're concerned that deflecting public focus onto the clothing rather than the young people themselves is disempowering, dehumanising and absurd. D, London I think that you're being stupid if you ban hoodies. If you give kids respect you'll get it back. Danny, 14 The majority of young people I come into contact with are polite, respectful, hardworking and caring - particularly when treated in the way we expect to them to treat us. S. Rush Wearing a hoodie does not make you a thug or a 'yob', many bank robbers and famous criminals have worn suits so should we assume everybody wearing a suit is a thief. I find it amazing that people associate a piece of clothing with a type of behaviour and it is the same with lads wearing black or standing in groups. If you look around you the fashion is black for lads and all the sports shops are selling hoodies or hoodie style jackets. So what is the solution? Should we stop the shops from selling these and make our youth walk around alone wearing bright coloured clothing and getting soaked in the rain. I do alot of work with these so called 'yobs' who wear hoodies; we clean old people's gardens and put on a youth club for younger children in our area to get them off the streets. Michelle I am a youth worker and I love watching young people trying to work through some of the most difficult years of their lives. Each one of them is totally and utterly valuable and the way they choose to express themselves is simply part of them forging and establishing their identity. What kind of burden are we loading on to young people if on top of everything else, we are assuming that simply by the clothes they wear they are going to cause disruptive behaviour. If we are expecting them to offend, how much faith are we giving them in the adults who are supposed to be nurturing and guiding them through their rocky years. Young people need love, guidance, encouragement, support and a lot of second chances. Dubbing them 'yobs' has to be one of the most destructive things we can do. What on earth are we playing at? Lynda I also disagree with the initiative to ban hoodies, it's just labelling and boxing young people and just looking at behavioural issues without understanding what underpins this. Keep the hoodies, work with the person underneath. Chris Farmer, youth worker, St Matthew's Cambridge I would like to commend your 'Under the Hood' campaign. I hope it succeeds in challenging the current public stigmatisation of young people. Dr Kristin Aune, Ridley Hall, Cambridge Has anyone else noticed how hoodies seem to like the rain? I must have passed literally hundreds on my way to work on Friday. I hid behind a lamp-post whenever I saw one coming, so thankfully I managed to avoid getting mugged. Some of them looked at me funny though. Thugs. We all have a stake in young people's problems. To be fair, Tony Blair said this the other day, saying that he couldn't bring everyone's children up for them. Funny that there are no headlines about bad parents. Pete, Warwick I am delighted by this campaign as I have been disheartened by the media's treatment of young people for months. This week's events have been the last straw. Those of us who know young people and believe in them need to stand up against the prejudice in society which is being encouraged by the media and some politicians. I am a youth worker in North London and am constantly shocked and disappointed by the way members of the community can dismiss and even demonise young people who have just the same rights as they do...Yes, a group of young people on the street all wearing hoodies can look intimidating, but do people stop to think about why they are there, and why they choose to wear the clothing they do? No, they just give in to their irrational fears and look to the Government to solve the "problem". It's time that adults and young people came together to show the enormous value and importance each young person has, if only they are treated with the respect they are due. Ageism is simply not acceptable. Lois, London I suspect that putting them in their own 'yob' category is a way for the rest of society to avoid accepting any responsibility for the problems it has created. D, London Is everyone who wears a hood a threat to society?