What are bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence?
Students
Q. How can I tell if I am being bullied or harassed?
A. Bullying and harassment might be physical (being hit, tripped, pinched), verbal (name-calling, teasing, putdowns), psychological (gestures, threats, being stalked), social (being ignored or having rumours spread about you) or sexual (physical, verbal or nonverbal sexual conduct). Bullying and harassment often happens out of sight, away from teachers or other adults.
Bullying and harassment are things that can happen over and over. Often the person or people doing it will have more power than you, even though they mightn't be bigger or stronger or older. This is a misuse of power because they are taking away your right to feel safe and be treated fairly.
Q. What does it feel like to be bullied?
A. People who are bullied often feel scared, depressed, sad, lonely, confused, worried, embarrassed, stupid, alone, not wanting to go to school, angry, mad, fed up, tired, not safe or useless.
How would you like to feel like that every day? That's why everyone needs to address this problem as effectively as possible.
Q. Is it bullying when someone teases you every day at school and calls you
names because you're from a different country or have different coloured skin?
A. Yes, that is bullying. It's also racist behaviour. Everyone has a right to feel safe at school and to be treated with respect.
Q. How do you know the difference between 'just joking around' and bullying?
A. You can often tell from the tone and how you feel about it. If it is joking from your friends or people you trust and know really well, and they have your best interests at heart, it's often meant as fun. But it can still hurt.
If you are doing what you call teasing, you can't really know exactly how people feel about things, so you should be careful what you say and how you say it.
Bullying, however, is meant to hurt and it usually keeps on happening. Ask yourself whether anyone is using fear, intimidation, sarcasm or putdowns. If so, and if anyone feels threatened, it's likely to be bullying.
Q. Aren't bullying and harassment just a part of growing up?
A. Bullying and harassment are not normal or good or healthy. These behaviours can damage health. They can prevent people from feeling safe, achieving their best or having happy relationships. In surveys, most students say they dislike bullying and harassment and want them to stop.
Q. Is it bullying when my group 'cold shoulders' someone or stops them from
being part of our group?
A. Ganging up can be verbal and emotional bullying because it's a misuse of power. This is unfair on the person who's being picked on or excluded – and it can hurt everyone because other people may trust us less. A good way to tell whether it is fair behaviour is to think about how you would feel if it was happening to you.
Q. Is it bullying when two people of equal strength have the occasional fight
or quarrel?
A. Maybe not. Bullying and harassment occur only when one person has more power than another and misuses it, perhaps linked to a sharper tongue or a better command of the language. We would like to recognise bullying behaviour at a glance. Sometimes we can't.
Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy
© 2008.
For copyright information about this website, and circumstances
in which
reproductions of this website are permitted, please visit our
Copyright Notice.