Definition:
Florida Department of Education defines bullying as systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students or employees.
It is further defined as unwanted and repeated written, verbal or physical behavior, including any threatening, insulting or dehumanizing gesture, by a student or adult that is severe or pervasive enough to create an intimidating, hostile or offensive educational environment; cause discomfort or humiliation; or unreasonably interfere with the individual’s school performance or participation.
Florida Legislature adopted an anti-bullying, including cyber-bullying, law on April 2008. The law is called “Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act” (Fla. Stat. section 1006.147), named after Jeffrey Johnston, a 15-year-old boy who committed suicide after being the object of bullying, including Internet bullying, for two years. This Florida law prohibits bullying and harassment of any public K-12 student or employee, and requires public schools to adopt measures to protect students and employees from the physical and psychological effects of bullying and harassment. http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?id=2109&s=latestnews
Types of Bullying:
1. Physical
2. Verbal
3. Cyber
4. Indirect
5. Racial/ethnic
6. Gender Based “Sexual” bullying
7. Sexting
8. Girl-to-Girl/ “Relational” Bullying
9. Social Alienation
10. Labels
11. Anti- Gay Bullying
12. Intimidation
13. Reactive
1. Physical
Any physical contact that would hurt or injure a person like hitting, kicking etc.. In elementary and middle schools, 30.5% of all bullying is physical.
2. Verbal
Name-calling, making offensive remarks, or joking about a person’s religion, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or the way they look.
3. Cyber
When the Internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person.
– The National Crime Prevention Counsel
4. Indirect
Excluding someone from a group on purpose. It also includes spreading rumors and making fun of someone by pointing out their differences.
5. Racial/ethnic
Spreading rumors or stories about someone. Telling others about something that was told to you in private. Excluding others from groups.
6. Gender Based “Sexual” bullying
Any bullying behavior, whether physical or non-physical, that is based on a person’s sexuality or gender. It is when sexuality is used as a weapon by boys or by girls. It can be carried out to a person’s face, behind their back or by use of technology.
7. Sexting
Sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude photos or sexually suggestive messages electronically. Sexting can be voluntary or involuntary. It can also be illegal, classified as child pornography, and if caught you may be labeled a sex offender.
8. Girl-to-Girl/ “Relational” Bullying
The term “relational aggression” is used to describe a type of bullying primarily used by pre-adolescent and adolescent girls to victimize other girls — a covert use of relationships as weapons to inflict emotional pain.
Researchers have found that, contrary to popular belief, girls are not less aggressive than boys, they are just more subtle or covert in their use of aggression.
9. Social Alienation
Intentional exclusion from activities, conversation, and groups, where the target is made aware that they are excluded on purpose and are made to feel unwelcome.
10. Labels
11. Anti- Gay Bullying
LGBT Youth Are:
• Subjected to such intense bullying that they’re unable to receive an adequate education. They’re often embarrassed or ashamed of being targeted and may not report the abuse.
• Two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts.
• Twenty-eight percent of gay students will drop out of school. This is more than three times the national average for heterosexual students
• Feel they have nowhere to turn. According to several surveys, four out of five gay and lesbian students say they don’t know one supportive adult at school.
12. Intimidation
To force into or deter from some action by inducing fear
13. Reactive
A subtle form of bullying in which the bully appears to be the victim. A reactive bully incessantly taunts a peer until the peer snaps and reacts with physical or verbal aggression. The reactive bully then claims that the peer was the cause of the problem.
Reactive bullying may be the most difficult type of bullying to identify. This is especially the case because bullies also tend to be victims of bullying. Reactive bullies both cause conflicts by instigating, AND get attacked by peers. The person a reactive bully targets often acts as the bully at other times.