Straightlaced unearths how pressures around gender and sexuality are confining American teens. Their stories reflect diverse experiences, demonstrating how gender role expectations and homophobia are interwoven, and illustrating the different ways that these expectations connect with culture, race, and class.

From girls confronting media messages about culture and body image to boys who are sexually active just to prove they aren’t gay, this fascinating array of students opens up with brave, intimate honesty about the toll that deeply held stereotypes and rigid gender policing have on all our lives. Filmed in the same intimate style as That’s a Family! and Let’s Get Real, the heart of Straightlaced is candid interviews with more than 50 teens from diverse backgrounds.

Straightlaced includes the perspectives of teens who self-identify as straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning and represent all points of the gender spectrum. With courage and unexpected humor, they open up their lives to the camera: choosing between “male” and “female” deodorant; deciding whether to go along with anti-gay taunts in the locker room; having the courage to take ballet; avoiding the restroom so they won’t get beaten up; or mourning the suicide of a classmate. It quickly becomes clear that just about everything teens do requires thinking about gender and sexuality.

Coming of age today has become increasingly complex and challenging; Straightlaced offers both teens and adults a way out of anxiety, fear and violence and points the way toward a more inclusive, empowering culture.

The accompanying 160-page Straightlaced curriculum guide is designed for use in school, community group and professional development settings.

DVD features:

• Producers’ interviews

• Spanish and English subtitles

• accompanying 160-page curriculum guide

Running Time: 67 minutes

Part of the Respect For All Project

Resources:

Read the Director’s Statement: Why We Made Straightlaced

If you’d like a press kit with photos, contact us.

Credits:

Producers: Debra Chasnoff and Sue Chen | Director: Debra Chasnoff | Editor: Rhonda Collins | Directors of Photography: Fawn Yacker and Rick Butler | Graphic Design: Idle Hands Studio | Original Music: Miriam Cutler | Associate Producer: Brittney Shepherd | Post Production Supervisor: Brett Rogstad | Assistant Editor:Shane Nye | Additional Camera: Leo Chiang, Jennifer Durso, Chiffon Pruitt | Sound Editor and Mix: Phil Perkins | Color Correction: Zacharia Pineda and Scott Harris

Partners:

True Child | True Colors | Teaching Tolerance | Safe Schools Coalition | RE:GENDER | PFLAG | National Center for Lesbian Rights | Hardy Girls Healthy Women | GSA Network | GLSEN | Girls Incorporated | Girls For A Change | Gender Spectrum | COLAGE | California Partnership to End Domestic Violence | ANSWER | Anti Defamation League