Its Life

Aïssata, 22, Guinea 🇬🇳 X NYC 🗽 Cornrows X Calvein Klein

Model IG/Twitter: @blissfullqueen BlissfullQueen.tumblr.com

Robert Asomaning, 22, Staten Island, NY

Whether you are teased for being too quiet but it’s really nerves / anxiety / shyness / hearing loss, and/or you have a hard time talking in an “indoor” voice when excited so people are constantly telling you to quiet down and “chill out”.

They say sorry a lot because they’re genuinely afraid they’ve insulted you somehow

They ask if they’re annoying because they genuinely think they’ve somehow annoyed you

They say things are ‘awkward’ because they can be uncomfortable in any situation, no matter who with, they don’t mean to personally hurt you

They cry because sometimes people and situations are too much, not because they’re looking for attention

They don’t text you a lot because they’re clingy, it’s because if you don’t reply, they think they’ve done something wrong

They can be set off by little things, so don’t say they’re overreacting when they panic

Please be patient with those who have anxiety

Boycott “The Forest” and watch the documentary, “Aokigahara: Suicide Forest”, instead.

Aokigahara: Suicide Forest:

Educates viewers about Aokigahara and the issue of suicide in Japan

It’s a documentary so everything stated is based on facts.

The Forest:

Romanticizes and trivializes suicide, death and the Aokigahara forest which is a real forest in Japan where people go to commit suicide. In fact, suicides in the forest are still happening today so it is extremely disrespectful. It’s been happening for the last 30 years—over 100 bodies are found in Aokigahara every year.

Suicide in Japan is a national crisis.

The mental health stigma in Japan is horrible.

The film is set in Japan but the main cast is dominantly white with a white female blonde lead. Not only that, it also doesn’t mention depression. This then leads to ableist erasure of Asian people, especially Japanese people, with mental health issues.

The film perpetuates the model minority myth which assumes that Asians are universally intelligent or rich, are able-bodied and don’t suffer from mental illness. Everybody believes Asians are rich and smart enough to access healthcare when in fact, this isn’t true at all.

Instead of talking about the real important issues happening today, Hollywood took the tragedies of the Aokigahara forest suicides and turned them into a Hollywood horror movie which in turn, dehumanizes not only Asians around the globe affected by mental health, but those who have already committed suicide.