Bullying
Bullying is when one person or a group of people scare or hurt someone else over and over again. Bullies hurt others who are often weaker or less confident. Bullying is often done on purpose and it can happen anywhere, such as at school, in the park, on a sports team, or even at home. Often the person being bullied has a hard time defending herself.
There are many types of bullying. Bullying can be:
- Leaving someone out of group activities on purpose.
- Giving someone the “silent treatment.”
- Using the Internet, IMs, text messages, and/or e-mail to hurt others (also called cyberbullying).
- Making faces and/or bad gestures with your hands at someone.
- Using a person to get something you want, such as making friends with someone who is smart just so they can do your homework for you.
- Making fun of someone for being “different.”
- Forcing someone to do something embarrassing or dangerous in order to join a sports team or social group (also called hazing).
- Name-calling, teasing, gossiping, and/or spreading rumors.
- Hair pulling, biting, and pinching.
- Threatening and scaring others.
- Hitting, punching, and shoving.
Bullying doesn’t just happen between girls. Did you know that sometimes adults bully kids? This doesn’t happen often, but it does happen sometimes. Bullying can happen when one person has power over another person. Teachers and coaches have power over students. Anytime a person hurts another person on purpose (either with words or actions), over and over again, this is bullying.
Also, girls sometimes bully boys. Girls may call a boy “gay” or hit a boy because they know he can’t hit them back.
Source: Office on Women’s Health
