Re:Highest rates of teen bullying are between friends and fr...
by leetcrew on Saturday February 20, 2021 @10:53AM
(#26205019)
pretty spot on from my experience. there were always a couple truly cruel kids who would pick on anyone they perceived as weak. but most bullying seemed to be for the purpose of defending group boundaries. people would mostly leave you alone if they didn't think you were trying to join a group that wasn't "for you".
Re:Highest rates of teen bullying are between friends and fr...
by sokoloff on Saturday February 20, 2021 @11:20AM
(#26205253)
I got lightly bullied in high school and the first part matches my experience: deciding that I didn’t care [very much] made it [mostly] stop, but if I let it get to me, it spiraled upward.
I had the same reaction as the parent but I was also mercilessly bullied in middle and high school. It’s no different than any other form of abuse in that you have no choice but to understand the social dynamic so that you can protect yourself.
I didn’t get bullied solely because I was nerdy, I got bullied because I was a nerdy kid who was trying to make friends.
I didn’t get bullied solely because I was queer, I got bullied because I was queer and tried to not be ashamed of it.
As soon as I accepted that my only permissible friends were the other misfits and queers then the bullying (mostly) stopped. It only started up again if as a group we started having too much fun in public because that started to threaten the popular kids’ position in school. If people saw us enjoying ourselves they might want to join us or shudder be like us. And that would make us… popular. Can’t have that.