Mount Druitt Youth on Postcode Stigma

POSTCODE STIGMA

Summary

Throughout the four live conversations, the lived experience of postcode stigma was shared by a majority of the participants.

Nina and Christina shared feelings of self doubt when starting university, doubts relating to where they grew up and the schools they attended. A general sense of ‘not being smart enough’ or ‘not succeeding’ because of their postcode was brought up and shared amongst the group.

These feelings come from years of negative messaging and the misrepresentation of the Mount Druitt area, especially in mainstream journalism. This messaging has trickled down and has been taken as fact by those living outside of western Sydney. Jason and Robyn have both experienced encounters in which they have been judged or mistreated by others solely because of where they grew up.

A few participants said they were able to push through their insecurities by using the stigma as ‘fuel’ to ‘beat the stereotype’, but this is not a valid solution for many young people.

Testimonies

NINA

"I was very overwhelmed... I was looking at a uni in the city but in my head I was telling myself you're not smart enough, you can't use big words like those guys from those ways. I remember speaking to one of my friends, who is of Indian background, and he told me...you know Nina, it's not the location. It's not the uni that you go to. But it's about your mindset...if we limit ourselves and if we let these stigmas get to us, then we become that stigma."

CHRISTINA

"Growing up in schooling in Mt Druitt and then going to uni - it was such a different experience. I felt so out of place going, I went to a uni in the city. I just felt like everyone went to the best schools. I felt like I wouldn't succeed as far as they would because I was from the west... even though I did graduate, I did hold myself back from what I could achieve because I had this stigma that I wouldn't get as far as everyone else, because I was from Mt Druitt."

JASON

"There's so many stories that aren't being told and the ones that are, just aren't positive... they aren't telling the message that people really need to hear... we read what's written about us... the constant negative talk and misrepresentation... that itself weighed me down."

ROBYN

"When Struggle Street came out... the whole premise behind it that they came up with was ‘'We want to show the real Mount Druitt' and then they just flipped it all... They came in telling us we want to show the good things, everything that is great about Mount Druitt."

ROBYN

"I had my own family members tell me that I was going to be a shit-kicker because of where I come from. I refuse to believe it, I refuse to let people tell me that. It's not true and I won't let it be true."

JASON

"I know I've been in so many introductions with people, I say my name... what I do, everything is all good, until I say where I'm from and then immediately there's a response, a reaction, an image"

Solutions and Actions

The participants expressed a shared hope to see more positive media representation of the area, both locally and in the mainstream. Some of the participants have taken it into their own handset shift the stereotype. As practicing artists and musicians, they are sharing positive messaging through their music, film and other art mediums to reach both local young people, as well as communities beyond Mt Druitt.