Reminiscing about my childhood years in an Ohio grade school, I don’t recall bullying being a major issue amongst my peers. Here and there students would get teased, myself included, but the act would be minor and there was always at the very least a lone ranger standing up, saving the day. So when the documentary, Bully, surfaced to my attention showing the true severity of bullying amongst students, I was lost and disappointed, to say the least.
The documentary followed five students in the U.S. who faced severe forms of bullying, both physically and mentally, on a daily basis. The film shadowed two families who lost their child to suicide, a boy beaten mentally and physically, a girl terrorized for her sexual orientation, and a mother awaiting the destiny of her incarcerated, 14-year-old daughter who pulled a gun out on her school bus. With a real life, intimate peek into households, principals’ offices, buses and even bus stops, the documentary captures the real face of bullying, and it’s a cruel one.
Perhaps my memory is foggy, or maybe I was blinded by what was really happening in the halls of my own school because sadly, bullying has been a huge, ongoing issue for years. After doing a bit of digging, I found a few statistics and quotes about bullying, compliments of a May 2012 statistical video by Ark of Hope for Children.
- “282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month.”
- “71% of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at their school.”
- “90% of 4th through 8th graders report being victims of bullying.”
- “One in 7 students in grades K-12 are either a bully or a victim of bullying.”
- “160,000 kids stay home from school every day due to fear of bullying.”
- “One of every ten students who drop out of school does so because of repeated bullying.”
- “Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT youth reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation.”
- “Nearly two-thirds (60.8%) of LGBT students who experienced harassment or assault never reported the incident to the school.”
- “Bullying statistics say revenge is the strongest motivation for school shootings.”
- “Harassment and bullying have been linked to 75% of school-shooting incidents.”
- “86% of students said, other kids picking on them, making fun of or bullying them makes teens turn to lethal violence in the schools.”
- “Half of suicides among young people are related to bullying.”
With social media at the top of its game, you can help fight against bullying by simply supporting a Facebook, Twitter or even Tumblr page. Below are just a few advocacy groups using social media to spread the word about bullying in hopes to make a difference:
2. Bully Movie
Twitter: @bullymovie
Twitter: @AbusedKids
Twitter: @StopBullyingGov
If you see someone being bullied, stand up, speak out and seek help. Be a superhero in someone else’s life.
