I Survived Being Bullied

1950 Words4 Pages

“We focus so much on our differences, and that is creating, I think, a lot of chaos and negativity and bullying in the world. Everyone should focus on what we all have in common - which is - we all want to be happy.” - - Ellen DeGeneres - - A bully is someone who hurts, belittles, and torments someone else in order to feel better about him or herself. In clinical terms, it is called leveling. They've made movies about it. They've written books about it. They've done studies about it. And now they're launching a national campaign to try to help prevent it. Me… I just lived it. More importantly, I survived it. For a teenage girl, junior high and high school are equivalent to the CBS hit reality television show Survivor. Originally you're all on the same team; everyone is nice, and everyone wants to get along. But within minutes of Jeff Probst handing out the different color buffs which determine what team you are on, or when the school doors open, things can and will get ugly quickly. Alliances are made, many are voted out, and the only sure way of surviving is to fly in under the radar. Bullying, what was once thought to be a problem among males, seems to be a growing problem among girls. Mary Phipher, a clinical psychologist and author of Surviving Ophelia, brought attention to "relational aggression," a term used to describe a type of bulling primarily used by pre-adolescent and adolescent girls to victimize other girls. Relational aggression is a covert use of relationships as weapons to inflict emotional pain (Skowronski). Personal experience tells me it's very effective. My Survivor season started my 9th grade year. Life was good, and I was happy. I never considered myself "popular," but I did have a decent grou... ... middle of paper ... ...ud I never gave up on myself. I'm proud I never stooped to their level and attacked back. I consider myself a survivor, a winner in the game. When the jury gathers, and Jeff Probst reads the votes out loud, I'll hold my head high. I lost a lot, but in the end, I survived. Works Cited "Cyber-bullying." National Crime Prevention Council. NCPC, March 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. Little Miss Sunshine. Dir. Jonathan Dayton and Calerie Faris. Perf. Steve Carell. Fox Searchlight, 2006. DVD. Patchin, Justin W. and Sameer Hunuja. Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 2009. Print. Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia. New York: Ballantine Books, 1995. 304. Print. Skowronski, Marina. 'Parenting Perspectives." Teachers and Families. National Association of School Psychologists, 2005. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Open Document