By Dr. Jacqueline Smart
Get Smart: Understand the many types
of bullying
Please understand that a child being
mean to another does not automatically constitute bullying behavior. We don’t
want to minimize mean behavior, but it is important to know the components
of bullying. Bullying is an intentional act that is done on purpose. The
bully’s goal is to cause harm, fear and shame to his or her victim.
Face-to-face
bullying
Bullying that is done face-to-face
is considered traditional bullying. It shows its ugly head in various forms,
such as physical violence: hitting, kicking, pushing or
restraining, and-verbal violence such as name calling, teasing, taunting or
threatening.
Verbal bullying can be seen as the
old-fashioned way of bullying. It does not usually involve physical contact.
Instead, words are used, either spoken or written, to cause fear, shame and
intimidation. It could include teasing, name-calling, inappropriate sexual
comments, taunting, and/or threatening to cause harm. I’m reminded of
back-in-the-day when classmates use to say, “I’m going to get you after school”
with their fists balled up. Please keep in mind that the victim oftentimes does
nothing to provoke such behaviors.
Social or relational bullying
Social bullying, also known as
relational bullying, involves the destruction of another person’s reputation
and/or relationships. Social bullying includes intended isolation (i.e.,
excluding a person from a group activity or telling others not to be friends
with an individual), spreading rumors, and embarrassing the victim in public.
According to Crick and Grotpeter, these acts are defined as “harming others
through purposeful manipulation and damage of their peer relationships.”
Physical
bullying
According to NoBullying.com,
“physical bullying encompasses causing injury to a person’s body or
possessions.” It includes forms of harassment such as name calling and stalking
as well as more violent forms of abuse: “Hitting, kicking, pinching, spitting, tripping,
pushing, in addition to taking and/or breaking someone’s possessions.” It can
also constitute forms of physical abuse where one person or a group will target
and alienate a peer and taunt, torture and physically harm the individual
because of a perceived difference in the individual. This type of bullying can
have dire consequences, with the victim being severely hurt or killed.
Cyberbullying
Advances in technology have greatly
influenced the way young people live their lives. Named so by Bill Belsey,
cyberbullying is a term used to define bullying that is done via technology,
specifically using the Internet. A victim becomes the target of hateful emails,
cell phone calls, pictures, and websites that post hateful messages in an
effort to intentionally humiliate and torment a person. Text messaging:
Instagram, Twitter and Facebook have become a new outlet for bullying. As with
traditional bullying, cyberbullying can occur between one individual and a
victim or among a group against a victim.
Acting
white
Intellectually academic
African-American students face daily taunting and intimidation from other black
students simply for being academically smart in school. Black students are
often told, “You’re acting white” or “You think you’re white” or “You think
you’re cute” when their peers hear them speaking “proper” English or excelling
in school (Davis 2011). It is sad that in the year 2016 some people still see
African Americans being intelligent and academically successful as a white
privilege only.
Jacqueline Y. Smart is a middle school teacher and has been
employed with the Savannah-Chatham school system since 2000. She has earned her
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from Cambridge College School of
Education. Send your questions and comments to
getsmartaboutbullying.blogspot.com or jackiesmart89@gmail.com.
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