Bereshna Halim
Professor Clarke
ENG 112
May 7, 2015
The Legal Crime: How has the Plague of Bullying Affect the Bully and the Bullied? The following words like “homo, faggot, gay and loser” have had negative impacts constantly. This made eighth grader, Jonah Mowry, publish a video on YouTube about how he has been bullied all his life, showing the scars to prove how traumatizing these situations can be for such young children. Jonah Mowry claims first time he started to cut himself was when he was in second grade, and that suicide was an option for him numerous times throughout his short-lived life. Bullying is a hidden problem that has plagued today’s society. All members of the society are expected to treat one another with dignity, respect and fairness, regardless of their: race, ancestry, place of origin, color, ethnicity, citizenship, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, or socioeconomic status (“Morwy”).
Bullying, defined as a person or group repeatedly tries to harm someone, occurs when there is an imbalance of power in a relationship with two or more people. Sometimes it involves direct attacks such as name calling, hitting, or teasing. Sometimes it is indirect, such as spreading rumors or trying to make others reject an individual. Regardless, many of them have the same common theme; and that is the use of aggression that occurs today “consisting of emotional, sexual, physical, nonverbal, verbal, social and psychological or there is even cyber bullying” (Eksi). These forms of bullying could tremendously shape and or completely destroy and damage a person both mentally and physically. Unacceptably, bullying has become a harsh reality in today’s world. Mostly, bullying occurs in schools, which is ironic because schools are expected to be a place where students are required to be safe since there are many adults. The truth is that many children are the targets of aggressive and threatening acts by others. It is a problem that can have negative effects for the school environment resulting in poor academics, emotional and physical stability. In many cases, bullying is tolerated or ignored. Many adults, unless there is a physical act causing injury, believe that it is best to leave the decision up to the children and their peers. In a recent study, the American Journal of American Medical Association found, “a nationally representative sample of over 15,686 students in the United States (grades 6 through 10), 29.9% self-reported frequent involvement in bullying at school, with 13% participating as a bully, 10.9% as a victim, and 6% as both” (Nansel). This impacts the right of students to be able to learn in a safe environment. Bullying not only has negative consequences for its victim, but for the bully itself as well. Bullies have the need to feel powerful or in control. They gain satisfaction by being aggressive to others so as to make up for their low self-esteem. They are often found defending their actions by blaming their victims. Eksi’s studies indicate that bullies often come from homes where physical punishment is used, where “children are taught to take action physically as a way to handle problems, and where parental involvement and warmth are lacking” (Eksi). Without parental guidance and a safe environment to call home, bullies instinctively inflict pain on to others as a form of self-expression. Unfortunately, this has profound impacts on the lives of their victims. Children who are bullied frequently experience long term effects of low self-esteem and depression even into adulthood. Victims of bullying see school as an unsafe environment and are likely to be absent more than their peers, causing them to fall behind academically. Feelings of low self-esteem make it difficult for them to make friends, as other children hesitate to create friendships with victims of bullying since they fear that they too will become aiming points of bullying. Consequently, children who are