Why is high-school bullying a problem?
Lady Gaga: Why is High School Bullying a Problem?
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Are you an aspiring journalist currently in high-school? Participate in the debate below and win the opportunity to cover Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation launch event with Oprah on February 29.
Jury selection has begun in the trial of in the trial of Dharun Ravi, the former Rutgers University student charged with using a webcam to spy on his roommate Tyler Clementi, who later committed suicide.
The case against Ravi began on Sept. 19, 2010, when he sent the following Twitter message: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.” Authorities say he also used a web camera in his dormitory room to stream Clementi's intimate encounter live on the Internet. Three days later, Clementi committed suicide. Ravi faces 15 counts, including bias intimidation, a hate crime which carries a possible sentence of 10 years in prison.
Clementi's case highlights the seriousness of anti-gay bullying, a problem which has particularly impacted high school teenagers dealing with the complicated issues of gender, sexuality, and difference. Multiple bullied gay teenagers have committed suicide in the past several years.
To address this issue, internationally-renowned pop star Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, are launching the Born This Way Foundation (BTWF), which will support programs and initiatives that deal with empowering youth. BTWF's mission is to "lead youth into a braver new society where each individual is accepted and loved as the person they were born to be."
Gaga has been a stand-alone leader in shedding light on the issue of teen bullying. She met with President Obama to discuss the bullying epidemic in high schools after the suicide of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer. When news broke of his death in September 2011, Gaga tweeted, "The past days I've spent reflecting, crying, and yelling. I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someone's life."
Gaga will be launching the Born This Way Foundation on Wednesday, February 29 at the Harvard. A star-studded cast including Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius will join for the launch.
PolicyMic has press access to cover the launch, and we're hosting an exclusive competition for aspiring high school journalists to determine who will attend on our behalf. Here's how it will work: (1) Answer the question below (in 1,000 characters or less) and participate in the discussion before 9:00am on Friday, February 24; (2) The most mic'd participant at the end of the debate will get the chance to cover the event for PolicyMic. We'll provide a small travel stipend and get you set up in Cambridge. The winner must be able to attend in person at that time. PolicyMic will provide a travel stipend of $100 but the winner must be able to cover the remaining costs to attend the event.
Join the debate: Why is high-school bullying a problem? What are some ways we can deal with it?
Photo Credit: TJ Senegal
This competition has ended
Grand Prize
Win the opportunity to cover Lady Gaga's Born This Way launch for PolicyMic.
The Discussion
Thank you for the opportunity, and thank you everyone for supporting me. I was just a few mics away from an amazing experience. Congratulations, Natalie.
Bullying is as old as the hills. I'm in my 40's and was bullied in school. Back then it was the norm. It wasn't easy for me, but I stood up to those bullies!!!! It's not easy and you need all the support you can get, but ultimately your strength comes from within.Suicide is NOT THE ANSWER!!!! When you succumb to them you are giving them more power and they feel they have won and will continue to bully. It is not easy facing your fears or some jerk that is so miserable with themselves that they feel they can abuse you and others. We all need to GET UP, STAND UP. STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS!!!! ... and for yourself as a person. You are not alone.
I think it's wonderful that Lady Gaga is using her fame to get wonderful things done, such as the Born This Way Foundation. Many times bullying can be overlooked and some can say it will only make the victim stronger. They say boys will be boys when one picks on another, but what they don't see is how lonely it can be for the victim. Lady Gaga is giving these victim's a place to feel safe, and trying to do what many can't; advocate for the voices of many that are too young and even dead.
High-school is a rough place. Students can't see past the small gates , and realize that being cool is not the only thing that matters. We need to help students and show them that there is more out there than that. We as a nation need to hear their cry now more than ever. We need to protect them, build their confidence levels up and let them know they were born this way! We need to show them they are loved and they can get through this.
Someone is on their side. They have a friend.
A feeling of self worth is one of the most valuable possessions we as humans have. When others target a person, the victim has but two options; to let the hateful attacks and words get the best of them, or to move on. Whether it is physical bullying in the halls, or cowards using social media sites to harass their peers, bullying is harmful. So many times the expression “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is thrown around, but anyone who has been named-called, knows this is false. We all have been bullied. We all know how it feels to be put down intentionally, some evidently more severely than others. And that’s sad. It’s sad that we live in a world where people are judged on things like appearance, sexuality, and race. Even though bullying goes on, however, there are always people there for support. It is critical that no person feels alone in his or her lifetime. Simply telling those in need you'll help and support them, is plenty of good to offer.
There is no one way to solve bullying. All of our ideas could be brought together in order to create the perfect anti-bullying campaign. We can teach students the false privacy of the internet while also empowering children to be themselves as a unique individual.
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Everyone should check out the most recent Glee episode. As we all know, suicides among gay young Americans is an epidemic. It's a terrible situation, and I think Glee did a nice job of portraying the issue without oversimplifying the issue. On another note, I just watched a great commercial for the Trevor Project starring Daniel Radcliffe! The Trevor Project is a a national suicide-prevention and crisis helpline that provides support for gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and questioning youth. This campaign is a fantastic approach to fighting the issue effectively and efficiently!
I believe one of the most important efforts to prevent bullying is coming from celebrities. Perez Hilton heavily supported a campaign called “It Gets Better,” where celebrities like Joe Jonas, Ke$ha, Neil Patrick Harris, among others, made videos about how being bullied will not happen forever, and your life can only get better from there. One of the best ideas this campaign had was airing “It Gets Better” commercials during NBA games, to advocate anti-bullying to a largely male crowd who may be bullying. The campaign got a lot of negative feedback from the men watching these games, because they thought that “It Gets Better” was pushing a pro-gay agenda down their throats. However, this negativity is exactly why it is so important to bring up the issue of bullying, especially with this demographic. Their resistance to the campaign shows that they do not want to listen and recognize the severity of what’s going on with bullying.
Dan Savage’s project “It Gets Better” is a fantastic move in the right direction to prevent LGBTQ youth from taking their own lives and to have gay adults help them realize that the future is much brighter. More people need to get involved in Mr. Savage’s project, and possibly starting their own version of Mr. Savage’s organization.
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Too often, I make my way through my high school hallway and hear the words “homo” and “fa**ot” uttered when no teachers are around. I’m not gay, but I find the words deeply offensive. Gay marriage has been passed in some states and even some celebrities have “come out of the closet,” but mainstream America is still in a closet of their own when it comes to gay equality. Politicians such as Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachman have inferred that being gay is a disease or akin to bestiality! Many parents are simply too overwhelmed by their teens' general behavior, share their own dislike or fear of homosexuality, and often use these words around the house themselves.
LGBTQ societies should be a mandatory requirement in all schools, educating and informing unaware youth about the issue. Furthermore, it should be a national requirement that all history textbooks include gay rights movements and more recent advancements, so a better understanding of gay history can be reached.
I condemn all hateful comments. I know Natalia supports the anti-bullying campaign. But, she is going about solving it in a wrong way... In my opinion. Let us respect each other's opinions and move on. Sending accusatory and critical messages will solve nothing, and contributes to the evil of bullying that we are trying to get rid of.
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As a victim of bullying, I am tired of all the rhetoric being thrown around by our politicians. It is as they think simply stating “I will stop at nothing to end bullying” is enough to end the epidemic of suicides, particularly of young gay youths. The problem is bullying can never be stopped. And that’s unfortunate, but it’s true. The best we can do is realize this fact and aim to do two things—prevent bullying in the first place by using education and provide the victims of bullying with resources and places where they can be helped as to shrink the number of suicides caused by bullying.
Education is our best bet when it comes to preventing bullying. No child inherently hates a group of people, they have to be taught to. To stop bullying we must “un-teach” these unfortunate kids who have had ignorance thrust upon them, before it is too late and they become bigoted adults instead of children who simply do not know better.
Bullying, specifically cyber-bullying, is an issue that is a vicious and endless cycle because teenagers do not know how to avoid the harassment because of its anonymity. Almost weekly we see increasingly more suicides at the blame of cyberbullying. To youth, the internet is seen as a place where you can say and do whatever you like without personal harm, but the harm to others is not taken into account. Children don't know how to properly handle the new freedom the internet holds. There is a growing number of social media outlets where young people have the freedom to insult anyone they do not like, or just feel like insulting. However, change will come from a promotion of safe Internet habits. It is essential for high schoolers to be concrete in the knowledge that privacy does not exist once you post something online. Smart decisions via the internet need to be taught--if you post something that you can be harassed for, don't. Being safe and smart trumps temporary entertainment.
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High school is a time when kids begin to form identities and come into their own. We're constantly being flooded with images and videos and advice from adults telling us how we ought to be, which is stressful already for most people. Adding verbal and physical abuse from classmates is a recipe for insecurity — and worse.
To make matters worse, adults from their positions of power within the school and at home can do very little to help the victims of bullying. What we need is awareness among students — that humiliation and abuse based on someone's personality or identity is not only devastating to that person, but also harmful to the self-worth of everyone else. My classmates and I need to learn to speak up when we see bullying. That's how we can stop it.
I have seen kids and even myself being bullied at school but those who have witness it haven't done anything to stopped it so i am taking the stand to do it Iwon't put up with kids talking about people because they are different and enough of it. one way we can put a stopped to this is to have a week of anti bullying because that what my high school did this week.
Too often, I make my way through my high school hallway and hear the words “homo” and “fa**ot” uttered when no teachers are around. I’m not gay, but I find the words deeply offensive. Gay marriage has been passed in some states and even some celebrities have “come out of the closet,” but mainstream America is still in a closet of their own when it comes to gay equality. Politicians such as Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachman have inferred that being gay is a disease or akin to bestiality! Many parents are simply too overwhelmed by their teens' general behavior, share their own dislike or fear of homosexuality, and often use these words around the house themselves.
LGBTQ societies should be a mandatory requirement in all schools, educating and informing unaware youth about the issue. Furthermore, it should be a national requirement that all history textbooks include gay rights movements and more recent advancements, so a better understanding of gay history can be reached.
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Bullying is something we are faced with everyday in high-school. Always hurtful and present, I see friends crushed by their hurtful words & actions everyday. The common phrase ‘If you are mean to others, you just feel bad about yourself’ is where the roots of our bullying epidemic lie. When I question the bully of their reasons, it is usually that the kid is ‘weird’ or simply different. Being different is a blessing but high-school is a pro at disguising it. I’d like to think that those bullied are the trailblazers, the kids that will succeed in life, the best people deep down inside. I’d like to think that the bullies know this, maybe subconsciously, & feel threatened. Looking at bullying in this respect, it doesn’t make any sense at all.
We are all one in seven billion. We are all that special someone, that unique gem. Many high school students don't realize that, as they group together and assimilate with other values and ideas. Then, as they lose their identity, they attack those that keep it safe and cherish it. This is why high school bullying is a problem. We were never told to embrace our gem-like identities. We need to be taught to bring out our differences to begin dealing with the problem of bullying. Our youth's identities need to be empowered and encouraged to flourish. We can be taught to ignore the ignorance too. My 93 year old great-grandfather says, "If anyone gives you a hard time, to hell with them."
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When I was growing up, the teachers did not spend passing periods in the classroom but, rather, in the hallways. Additionally, the staff ate lunch at the tables with their students. All students were held to a higher, achievable standard of behavior. Rhetoric included talking about diversity without fear of hurting others' feelings but instead with the intention of education and welcoming cultural differences. We were taught respect through example and communication. Now, victims are encouraged to continue to be victimized because they are told to "stay away from the bully" instead of reprimanding the bully him/herself. No one fights for the victims any more. Kudos to Lady Gaga: someone with influence to take aim at the bullies!
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I think that there should be student and faculty run councils set up in every school that are solely dedicated to the topic of bullying. A life is nothing to mess around with. There should be more awareness being made over the effects of bullying on both the bully and the victim. This problem should be approached and corrected at the earliest age possible. The earlier the better!