Hey Everyone,
This is the article to read for next class, as it does a
good job in delving into a lot on Bullying and harassment:
http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/nwlcharassbullying_titleixfactsheet.pdf
Bullying, Peer Pressure, and Harassment, has become a big
issue among all age groups, cultures, and religions. Especially among students
throughout elementary, middle, and high school and young adults in the United
States, the suicide rate has skyrocketed due to bullying. As of 2013, about 28
percent of students aged 12-18 reported being bullied at school. It is a major
issue facing the world and needs to be addressed.
The article that I have posted comes from the National Women’s
Law Center website, and focuses on Title IX (which we looked at last class). As
you are reading, I’d like you guys to pay close attention to the sections
entitled The Road Traveled and Cyberbullying (don’t worry, they are
only a few paragraphs). When reading The
Road Traveled section, please look at the statistics they use when
describing the amount of bullying and harassment that goes on among these
groups. I’d also like you guys to pay even closer attention to the ways in
which people cyberbully and the ways in which schools and classrooms can deal
with cyberbullying. Keep these questions in mind while you read:
1) Why do people bully or harass others?
2)
Other than the ones already mentioned, what can
a school community do about bullying in general?
3)
What can parents do to promote safe use of the
Internet?
4)
Consider times you were bullied or even perceived
as a bully. What, if anything, do you think could have been done to prevent it?
5) Consider times in which you have seen or heard
someone being bullied? As a peer, what could you have done or do to prevent it?
We can see bullying, harassment and peer pressure apply to
many situations outside or a classroom setting. It can happen in the workplace,
at home, at college, and really anywhere. One example, in which I can identify
with, was the Tyler Clementi case. Clementi was a freshman at Rutgers, who
unfortunately took his own life after his roommate live streamed with a hidden
camera, Clementi having sexual relations with another male student. Clementi,
who happened to attend my high school, was harassed and bullied for his sexual
orientation, and it just happened to be executed by his roommate who he did not
know that well. Please keep these ideas in mind when we meet up in class!
Updated 11/21/16
Updated 11/21/16
.
Hello everyone,
I thought that the discussions we had in class last Thursday
was very eventful, interesting, and enlightening. I went through what the
textbook had to say about bullying, harassment, and peer pressure in school,
college, and between males and females. From the questions I posed, we talked
about the norms that boys and girls have in school and whether they were
similar or not. We talked about how peer pressure affected us in schools and
everyone provided pretty good examples of that, as well as times we were
bullied. We concluded that both women and men are peer pressured into being
masculine or feminine and that really bullying affects everyone and we all have
experiences where we were bullied off of appearance, identity, or so on.
Instead of mentioning an author that could enhance our conversation,
I would recommend seeing or re-watching the movie Mean Girls. I feel that
bullying and peer pressure are topics that are more powerfully grasped while seeing
in action rather than reading about it. Mean Girls, which was brought up in class, is a
great movie that encompasses what bullying is like and the consequences it
leads to. Lindsey Lohan’s character says it best when she claims “Calling
somebody else fat won’t make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn’t
make you any smarter. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in
front of you.”
So to continue our discussions I wanted to reiterate the
question I posed in class since we did not have that much time to get into it:
What do you recommend parents, teachers, and even other
students should do about bullying?
What other movies, songs, books, and articles have you found
where bullying or peer pressure is incorporated?
Thanks again everyone for participating!
Jake, I think that the article that you provided does a really good job of providing some statistics that expose the reality of bullying and harassment at school. One stat that I found particularly surprising was that about 1/3 of students have heard kids at school say that girls should not do or wear certain things because they are girls. This sample was taken at elementary schools, which means that even at that young age kids are already reinforcing these gender roles. I know that children mimic this type of strict gendered roles from both their parents as well as the culture that they live in, so I suppose it is not terribly surprising that they themselves continue to reinforce this type of thinking. This concept also relates to cyberbullying, especially among adolescent girls. It is very common for girls to harass other girls based on their sexuality, especially in cyberspace. It is common for adolescents, especially girls, to harass each other over cyberspace because most of the time they believe that they are either being anonymous, or will not be held accountable for their words because they are communicated through a screen rather than through face-to-face interactions. They can feel more comfortable harassing each other using this method because they do not witness how their words can directly affect somebody; in other words they do not witness the victims immediate emotional response since they are not physically together during the bullying. In order to reduce this type of bullying children should be taught from an early age the negative effects that bullying, particularly cyberbullying, can have on their peers. This includes schools showing videos on the topic, having kids perform skits, and various informative activities.
ReplyDeleteHey Hayley,
DeleteI completely agree! The stats are very eye opening and like you said, the fact that some come from elementary school makes it even more scary that kids so young experience bullying or being placed into these gender roles. Like you also said, many of these bullies, whether they be cyberbullies or not, are not aware or do not take into consideration the impact that they are having on their victims. I also like and agree with your thoughts about how we should get rid of bullying. By reinforcing at a young age that it is unacceptable, the better it will be.
A more recent example of bullying in pop culture is the Netflix original show Stranger Things. Much of the teasing and name-calling that takes place in the show is homophobic in nature. (Spoilers Ahead:) When Will Byers goes missing, one of the bullies says of him, “He was probably killed by some other queer.” Later, at Will’s memorial service, the same bully says, “What’s there to be sad about anyway? Will’s in fairyland now, right? Flying around with all the other little fairies, all happy and gay.” Joyce, Will’s mother, mentions at the police station as well that he is often teased about being gay.
ReplyDeleteWhether Will is gay or not, he is being teased for not conforming to traditional gender roles. His interest in Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, comics, and other “nerdy” things is being punished by this bully. If will had more traditionally masculine interests, like sports, it is assumed that he would not be accused of being gay by his peers. As we have discussed in class in the past, young boys often discipline gender among themselves through insinuations of homosexuality.
This article from the LGBT-interest magazine the Advocate goes much deeper into the homophobic bullying in Stranger Things than I did, and is worth checking out (and also it’s where I found these quotes): http://www.advocate.com/television/2016/7/26/homophobia-real-monster-stranger-things
Hey Noreen,
DeleteI also watched Stranger Things, which is a fantastic show and I completely endorse your choice in tv shows. Stranger Things is a very good example if bullying and peer pressure as with the example you mentioned with the bullies asserting that will is gay. Some other examples I can see from the show is Nancy essentially ditching Barb at Steve's party, as well as Steve and his friends picking on Jonathon. Good job pointing out these references to Stranger things!
Bullying is like a domino effect; often time, bullies themselves were bullied. Therefore, they continue the pattern by emotionally and physically hurting others. According to the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), nearly 160,000 children miss school everyday because they’re afraid of bullying. The effects of bullying can be severe and long lasting. According to this council, kids who are bullied are more likely to do poorly in school, have low self-esteem, be depressed and turn into violent behaviors to protect themselves or get revenge on their bullies. Additionally, kids who bull are more like to do poorly in school as well, smoke and drink alcohol, and commit crimes in the future. Parents can play a central role in preventing bullying by teaching kids to solve problems without using violence and giving children positive feedback when they behave well to help their self-esteem. Building their self-confidence can give them the confidence to stand up for what they believe in.
ReplyDeleteOne of Netflix’s newest addition to its documentaries in Audrie and Daisy. This film is about the stories of two teenage girls who were sexually assaulted in separate incidents while in high school. Although Audrie and Daisy never met, their stories are terrifyingly similar. Soon after they were assaulted, their alleged perpetrators used social media to circulate photos of their victims. Audrie Pott, a popular 15 year old was passed out at a party when three classmates she considered friends then stripped her, drew graffiti all over her body with markers, and took pictures which were quickly spread all over school. The morning after, with no idea what had happened, Pott wrote to a friend: “I now have a reputation that I can never get rid of … My life is over.” Within a week she committed suicide. On the other hand, Daisy Coleman, a 14 years old from Missouri was sexually assaulted and cyber bullied. She later attempted suicide but survived and had since found strength in a community of survivors. Bullying has many faces and it can affect the lives of every individual very differently and severely.
Hey Tenzin,
ReplyDeleteYou are completely right! Bullying affects people at work, at home, at school, among family and friends, and has a major affect on the way a child grows up. All these negative things that you mentioned can happen just by one person deciding to make another's miserable. I also think that you are right in that parents have a vital role in standing up to bullying because kids get a lot of how they should act from their parents. A bad parent will a lot of the time cause their children to go bad and vise versa. However, I also feel it is just as much up to teachers and most definitely other students to also stand up to bullying, as a lot of the time kids do not want to approach their parents it they are being bullied. It also takes "hey thats on acceptable behavior" from a teacher or a "hey leave him/her alone" to help put an end to bullying. I also have not heard of Audrey and Daisy before and the way you describe it, it sounds very interesting. I will definitely have to check it out!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJake,
ReplyDeleteGreat presentation! When it comes to bullying, unfortunately there isn’t any way that a person or a group of people can fully avoid it or terminate it. However, there are many ways in which we can encourage others to take a stand in bullying, or further educate one another, as you educated the class in your presentation. One of the most effective ways in which parents and teachers could take an approach in advising students and children about bullying is by making them feel comfortable and confident enough to speak up when they see it happen. The motto “see something say something” is very applicable to bullying. Oftentimes, regardless what age, a person isn’t willing to stand up for themselves or another person who is being bullied solely because they don’t want to get involved nor do they want to make the situation worse. In your presentation, you included many prime examples of bullying when you explained how you were bullied because of your height and how your roommate was degraded by his advisor. One quote that stuck out to me during your presentation was when you stated, “We seem to get more peer pressure from our friends than from our parents.” The fact that you are aware of the impacts bullying has on a person’s life makes you more suitable as a student to advise others in what approaches to and not to take in regards to bullying. Word of mouth is potentially one of the most influential ways to get a message through to children and students. Watching endless informational videos can have an effect, but only to a certain extent. Although our friend groups enforce the most amount of pressure, we are ultimately susceptible to bullying in many ways and unfortunately, we are unable to fully stop bullying from happening in relationships, friendships, at school, or within a workplace. We are able to control our words and actions, but we are unable to control others’.
Hey Andrea,
DeleteYou are totally right as it is impossible to fully get rid of bullying and make it stop completely but as you reinforced, there are a lot of things we can do to try to, as you said, stand up to it. You hit the nail on the head with all the things we can do is confront it when we see it and make others aware of it. I am fully guilty of this at times too, but if we can eliminate the bystander effect, it can go a long way in dealing with bullying. Great response as you you are completely right in that we can control what we do but cant with others, so informing others on what they can do about it is very powerful
Jake,
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to read in your post that as of 2013, about 28% of students aged between 12-18 are being bullied at school. That means that by the age of 12 children are possibly going to start being bullied. People who bully others are possibly have been bullied themselves. Bullies are often trying to take their frustrations out on other people. Some reports I read stated that they even might have learned to bully by seeing other people bully. It also stated that some bully's like feeling like they are tough and have that power over people. I think that it is important that children as young as 12 learn about bullying and what exactly is bullying as well. I think that sometimes people know what bullying is, but sometimes people really don't. For example, some people think that bullying is only physical but bullying is physical, emotional, mental and verbal. I think it is important that we are educating children not only on preventing bullying, but also what are some exact forms of bullying. I think that making school feel like a safer environment where they can report bullying is important. Some people do not report bullying because they do not feel comfortable sharing that information. Cyber-bullying is also a thing that I think the school community should be teaching students about. Either form of bullying is harmful. Parents should monitor everyone's social media, for example. They should check it and also talk to their children about it. They should make their children feel like they can talk about bullying if they experience it. Some movies that discuss bullying are movies like "A Cinderella Story." In the movie, the main character is bullied by the three girls and also her step-sisters. It is important to note that the main character was also being bullied by her family. This made me realize that bullying can also occur inside the home, but I did not realize this until reading your discussion post. Another movie where bullying in the family occurs is in the "Home Alone." The big brother picks on the younger brother, probably not realizing that this is a form of bullying. I think that is why it is important to inform people about this.
Hey Maria,
DeleteI completely agree that bullies have a good chance of being bullied themselves, so they take their frustration out on others. This is a sick cycle that needs to be dealt with. Like you said, from cyber bullying to home bullying to school bullying, there are many forms. The ways we can deal with them is by informing others about bullying and creating a safe environment for the victims. I think I saw A Cinderella Story and it is a good example of bullying!
Hi, I enjoyed your presentation. I heard many people's experiences, and it reminded me my experience as well. I want to share that in this comment.
ReplyDelete1. What do you recommend parents, teachers, and even other students should do about bullying?
I think that people who are in charge of teaching something to children, such as parents and teachers, should teach them how people feel or become negative when they say something bad behind someone or what will happen next if they bully others. Today, more and more schools and parents do not tend to talk about the facts of suicide. However, huge amount of people commit suicide when they feel that they are rejected or isolated by others. If children know the fact, not many of them bully others because most of children who bully someone else just want to have fun by bullying or teasing others. I was bullied when I was in the middle school. At that time, I was senior and we had to study hard for entrance exam of high school. That was why my classmates started bullying me to release their stress. One day, a boy, who was in another middle school, committed suicide. He jumped from the second floor of his house. He did not die, but from that day, many of my classmates stopped teasing me. Even the boy who people did not know can stop other bullying, so I think people should know something bad would happen if people bully someone else, and what they did to others always come back to them.
2.What other movies, songs, books, and articles have you found where bullying or peer pressure is incorporated?
I think the drama, Glee, depicts the bullying in the high school. In the societies of the schools, students are making the groups according to many things, such as their interests, IQ, races and so on. Unfortunately, there are people who are called losers. Not many people use the word, but they use the other some other words like that to categorize them. People cannot live alone, but they also cannot get along with all other people, so it is important to know who they should get along with. The drama shows that clearly, I think.
Hey Yoshiko,
DeleteI agree with you that parents and teachers need to educate their children and students about the effects of bullying, as it could save a life. People need to be able to stand up to bullying and confront people who are bullies. Thank you for sharing your own experiences, as what happened to you and the boy you knew is very traumatic and unacceptable. I am glad the boy you know is still alive! I also agree that Glee is a good example of where bullying occurs, as the whole show is centered around these prejudices we have and the bullying that occurs in high school
Hey Jake, here are my responses to the questions you provided.
ReplyDelete1) What do you recommend parents, teachers, and even other students should do about bullying?
I believe that parents and teachers need to educate the youth about how bullying truly affects people. They need to also set the example for the younger generation. The movie Mean Girls definitely raises some issues that seem to naturally occur in the real world. If children are taught about things such as bullying at young age they will have a better understand on how important it is to never do to anyone. Unfortunately we live in a world where not everyone has a stable family life and even some parents tend to be bullied themselves. For the people that know better than that, they need to educate others on the issue to try to stop bullying. Students that witness bullying also need to be taught to say something during the altercation or even tell someone of authority about it so things can potentially be improved. If nothing is ever done and a person is constantly bullied this has a major negative impact on their life. Janice Ian from the movie Mean Girls was a totally different person after she was bullied by Regina George. Weather that change was for better or worse is debatable, but you could tell just by watching the movie that the bullying affected her deeply. Situations like that can lead to many bad things such as suicide. If people do not speak up and stand up for others when they need it nothing will change and people will suffer and the vicious cycle will continue. Unfortunately social media has proved a gateway for youth to even be bullied at home. The Tyler Clementi case you provided really hit home for me and is very unfortunate. I do not see any reason why his private life had to be live streamed online. This is just another way technology has changed the situation. With the world changing so rapidly parents, teachers, and figure heads in general need to educate people on how to use new technology wisely.
What other movies, songs, books, and articles have you found where bullying or peer pressure is incorporated?
There have been many movies that I have seen where these issues are raised. One of the movies that comes to mind for me is Clueless. This movie shows the divide among the high school students. The students are divided by their sexualities, races, genders, and classes just to name a few. The main character is named Cher and in the movie has a perfect persona and many other girls want to be like her. She is rich and has a father that will give her whatever she wants and for the most part she lives a carefree life. It is very similar to Mean Girls in a way that she sees a new girl that could use some guidance and she tries to take her under her wing. The movie promotes popularity as the main idea of the story is Cher trying to boost the new girls popularity. The new girl feels peer pressure from Cher and her friends to fit in with them so she can become popular like them as she aspires to be. Movies like this put the whole class system in peoples heads. Young viewers who watch movies like this may not know what to expect when they get to high school and I feel as though media like the movie Clueless might just add to the problem of stereotyping, bullying, and peer pressure.
Hey Josh,
DeleteYou are completely right in that it is parents, teachers, even other students jobs to educate others on the effects of bullying to try to counteract it. If people see it happening they need to confront it because that is how we can prevent it from escalating and prevent suicide as you said. I actually saw Clueless in one of my classes during senior year of high school and i completely agree with you in that it depicts bullying and peer pressure. I sort of agree with you in that these sort of depictions might add to the problem, but these movies need to be able to support the ideas of trying to counteract bullying as well. If kids watch movies such as clueless and then see the characters change their ways or stand up to bullying, it could have a lasting effect.
That is very true Jake! viewers of films such as clueless are normally younger in age and are influenced greatly by what they see. If they are shown situations where bullying does not give the upper hand to the aggressor than this will eventually change the outlook on the typical high school situation.
DeleteThere is many different reasons that one may bully another but many theorize that the main reason is that the one engaging another to bully them wants to feel the power that comes with putting another down in some way. The fact that you felt personally connect due to the boy that graduated from your high school made the lesson feel more relevant and real. The fact that how some choose to express themselves or who they love makes them more likely to be the victim, just because it’s not how some feels is right is sickening. Children must learn to accept more when they are younger and must learn to report when something done that isn’t right without fear of penalty. Children and adolescents in the country fear school, the right every child in the country has, because they don’t feel safe in an environment that is supposed to be positive and educational, something that will make their life better. There is not a lot parents can do to ensure that the internet is safe for their children, with modern social media there are very few controls that can be put in place to stop cyberbullying. The problem parents must face is teaching their children what to do if they are bullied and to make sure their kids are not the ones doing the bullying. Teaching children and emphasizing empathy, may help reduce the chances of them becoming a bully. Times I have heard of people being bullied created anger that anyone would stoop to that level in order to put someone down.
ReplyDeleteHey Katie,
DeleteI agree that many bullies pick on others becasue it gives them a sense of power and superiority, while I also feel that it could be in due to allowing them to release their frustrations. You are also really correct as children need to learn growing up the consequences of bullying and how to address it, while also learning to respect one another. From parents teaching their kids, to teachers reinforcing it in school,and even peers addressing it with each other, there is a lot we could do more with it. Can you think of any examples from movies or tv shows where people encounter bullying?
Jake,
ReplyDeleteYour presentation was truly memorable and intriguing, especially with the videos incorporated. To answer your questions, first, I believe in order to prevent bullying, teachers, parents and supervisors, must educate. Only when individuals are educated on the various genders, sexual orientations and sexes that exist on the spectrum, can they truly understand what each is in order to build tolerance. Whether or not individuals fully understand or agree cannot be determined for them, but to at least allow them to build opinions after being informed is essential to the fight against bullying. Often, the education system only reinforces the gender/sex binary because we are only taught two sexes in biology and only two gender expressions are tolerated. However, if schools built into the curriculum the many sexes and genders on the spectrum, as well as the levels of attraction individuals of any sex can possess, then it would not be so foreign to the student population. Therefore, it would be less of a shock and deemed less “strange” when a biological male, came to school dressed as feminine and was caught kissing a biological female (or any other of the various combinations we could come up with for this hypothetical situation).
Ignorance is intolerant while education promotes understanding, thus, respect of those different from us. This is particularly important because, “Title IX and other federal civil rights laws do not explicitly prohibit discrimination in schools on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity,” but rather disciplines the harassment that occurs (Title IX, 2012). Discrimination should not be permissible as long as harassment does not occur. This essentially makes Title IX less effective and lacks complete protection of the individual. Promoting a difference in treatment to those who do not follow the gender/sex binary is inexcusable, in my opinion at least.
As far as films or series that demonstrate bullying, I have just started watching reruns of Gilmore Girls. Although most of the series is light, viewers do get a glimpse of bullying when, a girl named Paris, torments one of the main characters, Rory. A scene that comes to mind is when Paris sees Rory’s mother kissing their professor. Since the hot topic of gossip had recently circulated around Paris’ parents’ divorce, Paris decides to expose this to the school in order to deflect the gossip from her own personal life. This is a great example of how bullies often bully because of their own personal struggles. Eventually, Rory approaches Paris and makes her feel guilty. Paris admits that her behavior was mean and not empathetic. Although they gain mutual understanding in this scenario, Rory remains Paris’ target for a few episodes.
Hey Kaitlyn,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that children and teenagers need to be taught what the effects and and consequences of bullying are. Parents, teachers, and other students need to be aware of what is going on and express how bullying is not ok. You are right as if schools educate students, like we have been learning in this class, of who people are attracted to, the different terms for people, and so on to be more knowledgeable and open to new concepts and to not judge people on their preferences. Unfortunately, I have never seen Gilmore Girls, so I cannot validate a lot of it, but your description of it seems very connected to the topic. I need to look into it now!
Jake, harassment, bullying and peer pressure are three of the most common and most damaging examples of what goes on in society today. I think you did a great job in your presentation expressing the effect that it has on people.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you recommend parents, teachers, and even other students should do about bullying?
- Something that every person should do about bullying is teach that it happens at a young age. There is no way that it can be easily prevented, so if anything they need to be prepared for how to handle it. Too many people are taken from this world due to being bullied or harassed, even peer pressured to do silly things.
What other movies, songs, books, and articles have you found where bullying or peer pressure is incorporated?
-In almost every movie i see there is at least one or the other presented. In a lot of movies there is peer pressure for a person to drink, or smoke. Also there is bullying when the "rich" "popular" kid picks on the "unpopular" kid. A good example of a show that has peer pressure and even bullying would be Sons of Anarchy. There is a ton of peer pressure for people to do obscene things to fit in with the club, and also bullying anyone who doesn't follow the rules and/or other clubs.
Hey Mandi,
DeleteI completely agree as we need to teach people at young ages that it happens and how they can handle it. There is so much negativity in the world and bullying only adds to it. Like you said there are so many examples in movies on bullying and peer pressure because it is that much of a prevalent topic. Ive never seen Sons of Anarchy but ill definitely check it out!