Essay
The Top Five Reasons Girls are Bullied in Middle School
By Ashton G Granger
March 1, 2019
Most of us have dealt with bullies in one way or another when we were in grade school, some people still deal with it after graduating high school, and/or even as a full-grown adult. Dealing with bullies was one of the hardest things I ever dealt with growing up. The bullies ranged from guys and girls, from different social groups. When most people think of bullies, they think of the popular kids bullying the less popular or nerdy kids. I believe girls at this age deal with bullies in a much harder way than guys do, because honestly, girls at the middle school age are mean.
Weight – being either overweight or skinny
Growing up, weight shaming is one of the main causes for bullying for most kids. Whether you’re “too overweight” or “too skinny”, people always have something to say about it. Girls don’t always know how to deal with their weight, don’t know to adjust to not gaining weight, or even gaining weight with everything they eat. Girls are scrutinized and made to think they have to look like girls in magazines or on TV.
https://www.deviantart.com/hitomihyuuga/art/Taken-over-by-my-weight-the-result-of-bullying-392682829
Childhood obesity is one of the leading issues with ages 10-17. Most of the time, the overweight issue has to do with their body, some people have slower metabolisms’. Girls can’t help what their weight is, but yet they blame themselves because bullies make them believe it’s their fault they are that size. The types of bullying that these little girls must deal with are things such as threats, insults, and spreading rumors. Dealing with these types of bullying is hard and most little girls at this age really don’t know how to react or deal with it.
Girls are bullied for so many reasons, especially in today’s day in age because TV, magazines, and music gives girls the idea that they have to “look” a certain way to be pretty. Not being pretty enough is one of the main reasons girls say they are bullied or why they believe they don’t fit in with the other girls their age. Whether it’s a girl’s hair color, eye color, or the way the girl dresses, bullies will always find a reason to make fun of her. Lady Gaga says it best in her interview with iheart radio, she said “When I did not believe in myself, when I was bullied in school, I felt ugly, and my only escape was music and that’s why I started to sing and writing songs and act,” (Lady Gaga). Girls could use hobbies as a way to cope with bullies or a distraction to not think about it, but most girls don’t know what to do or how to even stand up for themselves. In a poem, by Camille Dungy, called Because it looked hotter that way, the author pointed out the fact that she had her friends build her self-esteem up and tell her she’s pretty because bullies are constantly telling her she’s not. Not all girls who are bullied even have friends that do that for them so the girls getting bullied are usually alone.
The Fashion Bullies – not wearing label/designer clothes
www.vashtie.com/film/5-ways-mean-girls-taught-us-recognize-frenemies/
Fashion bullies sounds funny, doesn’t it? That’s because fashion bullying is. If I had to choose one type of bullying that I believe is the craziest and most ridiculous type of bullying it would be this type, fashion bullying. The message that magazines, the internet, social media, movies, and even music is giving to young girls nowadays is making them believe they “aren’t cool” or popular if they aren’t wearing a certain brand of clothing. Girls that wear these brands or “the popular girls” bully the “unpopular girls” for wearing off brands or not being as cool as them. “Many brands worn by adult women are increasing becoming wardrobe staples for elementary school girls. Let your children know that they are not the clothes they wear. Someone is not a cool person because they are wearing the latest trends nor is someone uncool because they are not,” (Lorraine at Style Envy). This is a tough lesson that girls nowadays need to be taught, because they learn from every type of media that certain clothes and certain makeup will make a girl popular and “pretty”.
Bullying in sports – toward those who are less gifted
https://blog.playo.co/how-to-deal-with-bullies-while-playing-a-sport/
Bullies in sports are not talked about often, because usually the victim wants to be “tough” and not tell anyone what’s going. Bullies in sports usually generated from a more athletic girl to a less athletic girl, because they feel superior and want to make fun of her for not being as talented. There are three distinguishing types of bullying when it comes to sports, “verbal bullying which includes name calling, nasty and cruel nicknames, taunting, rudeness and threats of violence and/or to cause harm to a teammate or another student. There’s also physical bullying which is hitting, slapping, towel snapping, tripping, head-butting and physical violence against another player. Lastly, there is relational bullying which involves excluding another player, gossiping, hurtful trash-talk and embarrassment of a player in front of others,” (Sylvia). There are a few ways I was taught to stop these bullies, stand up for yourself, tell your coach, or tell your parent.
Smart-kid Bullies – toward those who are academically challenged
The most common type of bullying is the bullying that occurs mainly at school, inside or outside of the classroom. This is known as bullying toward those who are less academically gifted in terms of school, learning, and academics. Girls at the middle-school age get this “know-it-all” attitude and make other girls feel like they aren’t as smart as them, they always have to be right. Bullying in academics has become a big issue in school, because girls not only have to be “pretty” all the time, but they must be smart too. Sadly but surely, this leads into their adult life as well.
Close, Paris. “Lady Gaga Recalls Being Bullied, Feeling 'Ugly' & How She Coped With
Pain.” IHeartRadio, 15 Sept. 2018, www.iheart.com/content/2018-09-15-lady-gaga-recalls-being-bullied-feeling-ugly-how-she-coped-with-pain/.
Lorraine. “The Fashion Bully.” Pacer Teens Against Bullying, 6 Nov. 2012, www.pacerteensagainstbullying.org/pacer-story/the-fashion-bully/.
Sylvia, Sunita. “How To Deal With Bullies While Playing A Sport.” Playo, 2 Nov. 2018, blog.playo.co/how-to-deal-with-bullies-while-playing-a-sport/