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What is bullying?

What is bullying?

Bullying is an abuse of power. It's where one person or a group of people uses their power to make another person feel powerless. Bullying is not a “normal part of growing up”. Bullying is never okay or deserved. It can leave the victim feeling constantly scared, down and unsure of what to do.  

Just like the bullies themselves, bullying comes in lots of different forms:

Verbal

Put-downs, name-calling, swearing, writing notes or signs about the person, spreading rumours, laughing at someone, threatening someone, mocking, discriminating against someone for all sorts of things, including how they look, act, who they go out with, what they believe, where they come from or who their family are.

Non-verbal

Making rude gestures (like pulling the finger or pulling a face), eye-rolling, ignoring, snobbing someone or excluding them.

Physical

Taking property (like money, lunch, cellphone) and threatening to damage it or keep it if the person doesn’t do what they want, hitting or punching, tripping up, throwing stuff, spitting or pushing.

Cyberbullying

This can include being sent rude, scary, or mean texts, photos or videos, lots of the same message over and over again, lots of phone calls, mean online comments or pictures on social networking sites and pages created that say mean things about other people.

 

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