Case Study: Analysis
Bullying: A Social Justice Issue
By Evan Layton
Examples of Social Justice
Related to Bullying
Getting judged because of the being of a certain ethnic background
- Singling out a black person in a white community for holding that ethnicity
- Going along with a stereotype towards a certain race (e.a. Jews are bad)
Getting bullied because of their gender, whether it be towards a male or female
- A female telling a male he's not a "true man" because he doesn't have abs
- A male telling a female to go back to the kitchen because it's where she belongs
School Bullying
Everybody knows generally what bullying is, but how much do you actually know?
- During the victims time period of being in school
- Can be physical, verbal or emotional
- Tends to occur most commonly during gym, recess/lunch, waiting for the bus, in the hallways or in the bathroom
- Bullying happens in so many different places and ways that it's extremely hard to stop
- It can engage in 1 or more people victimizing an individual or group, usually for an unreasonable reason
- Generally the victim won't say anything about getting bullied so the instigator can't retaliate afterwards
these are all real life examples that can be seen in society, potentially throughout our school even
What Is Social Justice?
- self harm (cutting, burning, starvation etc.)
- depression
- social isolation
- suicide
“aggressive behaviour where a dominant individual or group abuses their greater power by threatening a less dominant individual”
How Is It A Social Justice Issue
Bullying usually has a huge impact on how someone presents themselves in society because of the focus applied to the negatives, rather than the positives.
- They usually don't start off with this characteristic
- They often come from families where they are the victim, causing them to believe "you bully or you get bullied"
- To take out their anger and tension from their out of school lives
Bullying:
It causes negative effects on the victim such as:
Why do bullies put down people?
- Social Justice is complete equality of all people
The story of Amanda is a good example as to how school bullying, and bullying as a whole is a social justice issue in our society. Personally I believe it is one of the biggest social justice issues you can find amongst us humans today, since its happening all the time everywhere we go whether its directly or indirectly. This depressing story brought attention to people nationwide, accumulating mutual feelings between many different countries, races and genders: Bullying needs to be put to an end, just like racism and sexism once was too.
Ontario has taken steps towards putting bullying to an end however it's a large handful to take down since its happening so often at such an extensive rate. Ontario brought in an "anti-bullying legislature" (bill 14) which was an act to make bullying awareness and prevention week in all schools. This is just a first step towards putting bullying to an end; bringing the very harmful social justice issue down.
Where and How is Bullying Happening at School?
- Tickling
- Headlocks
- School Pranks
- Use of weaponry
Physical bullying usually happens when no authority figures are around, and even if bystanders are around or not they usually won't do anything for their own sake of being bullied
Verbal bullying can occur at any moment, like while walking past one another, or laughing at them in class
- Punching
- Pushing
- Kicking
- Inappropriate Touching
- Fighting
- Swearing towards the victim
- Making rude comments about them as an individual (personal attack)
- Tormenting
- Harassment
By causing the individual to feel targeted for an unjustified reason, the bully causes emotional distress
Physical:
- Spreading rumours
- Excluding someone from a "group"
- Ignoring people purposely
- Harassment
Verbal:
Emotional:
Steps Towards Stopping Bullying
- The Canadian Teachers' Federation asked for the addition of cyber bullying to the Criminal Code
If the bully does not choose to stop, they can be charged for harassment (and/or manslaughter if the victim results in committing suicide)
Although cyber bullying isn't in actual contact with the two individuals, it's extensively continued from school to home VIA social networking websites
- Spreading the awareness of what can be done when an individual is being victimized:
Tell a parent or another authority figure
Being more fair to the society while following all the rules and regulations of society
In other words...
Posted: 10/11/2012 7:46 pm EDT Updated: 11/12/2012 1:56 pm EST
Case Study: Amanda Todd
"A Vancouver-area teen who used YouTube to share her heart-wrenching story of being bullied online and beaten at school has killed herself, unleashing a torrent of social media condolences and soul-searching.
Amanda Todd was found dead in Coquitlam on Wednesday night, less than a month before her 16th birthday.
News of her torment and death are being shared on social media through Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter, where #RIPAmanda is trending.
"I'm saddened to see that this was the only [way] this young girl could escape such torment. May she rest in peace," posted one woman on Facebook.
Last month, Todd posted a nine-minute video on Youtube featuring her holding up cue cards that chronicled the cyber-bullying and cruelty she suffered, despite changing schools and cities."
Amanda Todd: Bullied Teen Commits Suicide
Most of us have at least a limited amount of knowledge on the Amanda Todd case: A 15-year old BC girl committed suicide due to extensive bullying.
The Huffington Post B.C. | By Andree Lau