Complete? Exploring the pressures of gender identity and conformity

Complete? brings to life the pressures young people feel from social expectations of gender. It was created by young people from the UK and Ghana.
It explores the mental health impacts of not feeling accepted as yourself by society. It has been produced as part of a project to understand the impacts of gender construction on young people in these two countries.
Complete? was created and performed by young people from Ghana and the UK, including members of NIHR ARC West’s Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG). The poem was written by Malizah and the video was created by Rising Arts Agency, with support from researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of the Cape Coast, Ghana.
Complete? explores the pressure from peers, parents and others on young people to conform to society’s expectations of how different genders behave. Moving through different stages, from confusion and vulnerability to self-acceptance and self-respect, the poem brings young people’s experiences to life.