FB / Congrats, Pam / Bullying / Intrinsic-Extrinsic

[Catherine Danielson]

That subject line is simply getting too long. :)

Something to add about bullying...
I think a LOT of it depends on what we're really
talking about. Several different types of behavior get
shoved under the rubric of "bullying" or "teasing." 
Take what happened to me in 6th grade. Please. (Hmm, I
don't think that's possible...)
First, you have to know that all the women in my
family share a weird genetic trait. At the age of 11,
we suddenly look like completely mature adults.
Happened to my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother,
etc. So there I was on the first day of sixth grade,
mistaken for the teacher constantly, hit on by adult
men in situations where my age wasn't known, etc.
Unfortunately, there happened to be a boy in my class
who had his own set of psychological problems, also
was very mature-appearing for his age,  and was  a
ringleader. The rest of the year was a nightmare of
sexual harassment that was laughingly called
"teasing." I'm still angry about it and always will
be. Teachers and administrators did not want to see
what was really going on even though it was happening
right under their noses and couldn't have been
clearer. Maybe they didn't want to deal with it
because we were all "kids." (Please don't make me go
into details. Fill them in yourself.) This was
extreme, but I saw it happen to other people. Schools
still don't want to deal with it. 

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