Bullying

[Vosem]

In my bratty suburban area, I was bullied quite heavily in middle school but today, as a sophomore, it's long since stopped. (7th grade, I recall, I came back from summer break to a new school year and it simply failed to resume). The correct response, in my view, is not to react whatsoever; unless you can beat the sh**t out of the bullies (and if you can you won't be bullied), fighting back will only make them more determined. They're looking for a show; you're giving them one. Similarly, adults cannot govern every part of a child's life, and invoking them will worsen your social standing, and make you dependent; if you're lucky, it might provide relief in the short run, but in the long run it will make matters worse. The correct response is simply not to entertain your bullies; eventually they'll go away. I say this as an ex-victim.

The exception -- and of course at the middle school level this isn't a problem, but at my age this is the most common form of bullying -- comes at the crossroads of bullying and sexual harassment. In this case, it's not anything you're doing so much as your very existence which is entertaining the bully, and having never been subjected to this I have no idea what the 'correct response' could possibly be. (Obviously, this has a limit -- after reaching a certain point you're best off telling the authorities, but in most 'low-level' cases you have the same problem of this being very stigmatized).

Just my two cents very late at night.