Anti-bullying signal-boost.

[gaudior]

People have been talking about bullying lately. Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project has drawn attention to the suicides of gay teenagers, and has inspired the Make It Better Project, to give youth and concerned adults the tools they need to stop bullying in the schools. (I strongly recommend MIBP's Take Action page, which has such useful links as information about The Safe Schools Improvement Act (H.R. 2262/S. 3739) and how you can support it). And both homasse and seishonagon linked to an insightful and useful article by Kate Harding, On Good Kids and Total Assholes.

I'm glad people are talking about this so much-- it's making me think about my own childhood, and how much I accepted kids making fun of me, ostracizing me, and generally making me miserable as "just the way things are." That understanding of the universe and my place in it had long-lasting effects, and I am delighted and grateful that people now are talking seriously about how to stop bullying.

(I may at some point make a larger post, but at the moment, I wanted to signal-boost. Yay, signal-boosting.)

--R

Comments

[weirdquark]

generally making me miserable as "just the way things are."

I still say that even if kids are generally assholes and this is just "the way things are," that doesn't mean they shouldn't be called on bad behavior and made to stop.

[tiamat360.livejournal.com]

So. Not really a response to the topic at hand, but:

I've seen some of Kate Harding's writing before, in the context of "Fat Acceptance." She is kind of a maniac - I'm sorry, but no, being overweight/obese is NOT healthy, and no, doctors are not assholes for telling people it's important to lose weight, because it is.

And so when I see her writing on other topics, even ones where I agree with her, I'm kind of inclined to take what she's saying with a grain of salt.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

how much I accepted kids making fun of me, ostracizing me, and generally making me miserable as "just the way things are."

My explanation involved aliens.

[eredien]

I'll always remember the time in 9th grade when a kid behind me kept poking me in the back with a pencil every time I tried to learn math (the subject hardest for me). I mentioned this to the teacher, who tried to get the kid to stop, and the next time it happened, the teacher pulled me aside and said, "just hit him next time."

Yeah, I know the teacher wasn't supposed to say that, or let me do it, but it was a very real validation: "Yes, there is a problem there that is actively keeping you from learning and me from teaching you. No, it's not a problem with you. Yes, you should be able to do something about it."

I turned around and hit the kid with my ruler the next time he did it; the kid immediately whined and complained to the teacher: "she hit me!" The look on the kid's face when the teacher said, "yeah, I know; I told her she could. So stop hitting her," was priceless.

[fiddledragon.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the signal-boosting! I've felt kind of helpless as an adult to do anything about the problem since I'm not in any sort of childcare role. It's good to see what my options actually are.

[jeshala.livejournal.com]

Is it something in Shorewood's water that makes the kids so eager to be complete out and out foul to people?

Fortunately though I've seen a wave of very polite, accepting kids there lately. Perhaps there is some hope for that hole in the ground posing as a high class town.