Growing Up in Public

It's a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world, sang a very wise man once, and it's even more so when you're a teenager. The drive to establish your adult personality, to try on new roles and to distance yourself from your parents can lead to some ridiculous situations and regretful incidents. But what if you know in your heart you're doing the right thing, and everybody else tells you it's wrong anyway? Director Debra Chasnoff interviewed 50 high schoolers about how they see themselves versus how the world wants to see them for her documentary Straightlaced: How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up. Straight kids, gay kids, kids who aren't sure yet where they fit in — or if they need to fit one pigeonhole at all — discuss what it's like to grow up in a world where hyper-sexualized teen girls sell more records than k.d. lang, where boys have sex just to prove they're straight and where it's not safe to use certain restrooms in their own schools. It's not a world they've made for themselves, but it's the only one they have. Straightlaced screens at 7 p.m. at the Missouri History Museum (Lindell Boulevard and DeBaliviere Avenue; 314-746-4599 or www.mohistory.org). Tickets are $5 to $8, and a panel discussion follows.
Thu., June 18, 2009