Abstract: This study investigated students' perspectives about bullying towards same-country and immigrant peers. Thirty-five Italian and immigrant students (age range: 11–15) took part to the study. Participants were probed with two bullying scenarios, depicting respectively a new classmate from another Italian city and from a foreign country. A Grounded Theory approach was adopted to examine participants' perspectives about the motives for bullying.
Findings showed that a process of socializing deviance is at the core of both forms of bullying. This social process refers to a series of shared beliefs within the peer group about the victim's deviant features. Three sub-categories related to both forms of bullying emerged from the core concept: (a) Rejecting the newcomer deviance, (b) Rejecting physical deviance, (c) and Rejecting personality deviance. These sub-categories were related to the sub-categories of bullying towards immigrant peers: (d) Rejecting cultural deviance, (e) and Learned racism. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical relevance. (Mazzone et al., 2018)
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- Mazzone, A., Thomberg, R., Stefanelli, S., Cadei, L., & Caravita, S. C. S. (2018). "Judging by the cover": A grounded theory study of bullying towards same-country and immigrant peers. Children and Youth Services Review, 91, 403-412. - photograph by Rob Brenner via
A while ago, I switched to comment moderation. In other words, currently comments do not appear without my approval. The reason why is that a person tends to run amok on my blog and this person's episodes get more intense from time to time. It will not stay like that ("comment moderation", I mean) ... in the meantime I would like to express my gratitude for your beautiful - and wonderfully sane ;-) - feedback and tell you that I am sorry for the delay of your comments before being published. Well, theoretically there may be the positive side effect that by stalking me online this person can at least develop some interest in diversity. Who knows?...
"Smalltown Boy" is a song by Bronski Beat that was released in 1984. It was a commercial success and became a gay anthem as it addressed homophobia, bullying and loneliness (via).
"Accompanied by one of the most literal videos ever filmed, ‘Smalltown Boy’ was the first sortie by the openly gay trio, Bronski Beat, against another aspect of Thatcher’s Britain (and, indeed, of life in Britain in general): homophobia. Written by Bronski Beat, who themselves had ‘run away’ and were to meet in Brixton and form the band in 1983. The sense of the lyrics directly being drawn from personal experience made this a poignant commentary on growing up gay in the provinces." BBC
"‘Smalltown Boy’ was a distinctive step in the right direction, with its lyrics about a young man forced to abandon his home town for fear of this disapproval. Not only did it highlight the plight and shared experiences of hundreds of thousands of gay people, but it also provoked serious debate over these issues."BBC
Jimmy Somerville sings "Smalltown Boy", Rak Studios, St Johns Wood, London, May 2014:
"At a swimming pool, his friends (played by band members Larry Steinbachek and Steve Bronski) dare him to approach a young man that he is attracted to, for which he is later attacked in an alley by a homophobic gang led by the man he had approached at the swimming pool. A police officer brings him back to his home. It is implied that the boy's parents learn of his homosexuality for the first time through this incident and are shocked, but only the father seems unsupportive. The boy then catches a train to London, on which he is reunited with his friends." (via)
You leave in the morning with everything you own in a little black case
Alone on a platform, the wind and the rain on a sad and lonely face
Mother will never understand why you had to leave
But the answers you seek will never be found at home
The love that you need will never be found at home
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Pushed around and kicked around, always a lonely boy
You were the one that they'd talk about around town as they put you down
And as hard as they would try they'd hurt to make you cry
But you never cried to them, just to your soul
No, you never cried to them, just to your soul
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away (crying to your soul)
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away (crying to your soul)
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away (crying to your soul)
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
You leave in the morning with everything you own in a little black case
Alone on a platform, the wind and the rain on a sad and lonely face
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
Run away, turn away, run away, turn away, run away
“The time for homophobia is long gone. It’s over." “Any young person indulging in homophobic bullying is a teenage dinosaur who should just go and sit coughing over a sherry in an old white men’s club.”
“It’s not cool, it’s not intelligent and it’s not attractive. Let the rainbow live. We are all in this together and if you’re young, you know that better than anyone. Get rid of the old, get in with the new-get rid of homophobia.”
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson has joined the Time for Inclusive Education Campaign that was launched in June 2015 with "one very simple aim: to ensure that all schools in Scotland are offering an LGBTI+ inclusive education." (via)
Ditch the Label is one of UK's largest award-winning anti-bullying charities. It supports young people between 13 and 25 years of age.
The non-profit organisation is based in Brighton and was founded by then 21-year-old activist Liam Hackett in 2012 who had experienced emotional and physical homophobic bullying at school and was even hospitalised one time (via). Ditch the Label works with schools, colleges, charities and young people in general who experience bullying (via). Since 2013, it has been releasing the Annual Bullying Survey, the "largest annual benchmark of bullying trends in the UK" every year (via). Here are some key findings (literally taken from the 2015 report, n = 3023 from 73 different establishments):
Appearance is cited as the number 1 aggressor of bullying, with 51% saying they were bullied because of attitudes towards how they look. 26% said their weight was targeted, 21% body shape, 18% clothing, 14% facial features, 9% glasses and 8% hair colour. 23% a females with ginger hair cited their hair colour as the bullying aggressor. Overall, 47% of young people want to change their appearance. 48% want teeth whitening, 17% breast implants, 6% liposuction and 5% botox. 40% of respondents reported being bullied for personal appearance 36% reported being bullied for body shape, size and weight.
Highest risk to bullying were the following groups: all types of disability, LGBT and low income backgrounds.
More:
- Ditch the Label website - link
- The Annual Bullying Survey 2015 - download
Bullying is a major concern and can lead to long-term behavioural, emotional and physical adjustment problems (Hamburger et al., 2011). Being exposed to bullying at work is a significant source of social stress and might lead to psychiatric problems in victims (Einarsen et al., 2002). While, theoretically, every individual can become a victim, some people seem to be more likely to be targeted.
A study carried out among employees of the National Health Service came to the conclusion that the minority ethnic staff had disproportionate experiences of bullying and harassment (Bécares, 2009). Males with gender minority status are more likely to be bullied, too (Wang, 2012). Age also seems to correlate with bullying as e.g. research in Norway shows that particularly older employees feel affected by bullying (Einarsen et al., n.y.). And, people with a disability are at higher risk of being victimised (Sin et al., 2009).
In other words, being a member of a minority group increases the likelihood of being bullied. In case of intersection, i.e. the individual belongs to more than one minority group (e.g. the person is of a different ethnicity than the majority plus queer), the likelihood of being bullied might rise. For instance, if one is already being bullied for being a sexual minority, then the additional membership of an ethnic or a religious minority group increases the odds of being bullied even more. According to a study, as people move to one additional minority group membership, they are 22 times more likely to be bullied because of their sexual orientation, when they move to two additional minority groups, the likelihood increases 37-fold, and in the case of three minority groups it increases 167-fold (Rivera, 2011).
Bécares, L. (2009) Experiences of bullying and racial harassment among minority ethnic staff in the NHS. A Race Equality Foundation Briefing Paper
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H. & Nielsen, M. B. (n.y.) Workplace Bullying (via)
Einarsen, S., Mikkelsen, E. G. & Matthiesen, S. B. (2002) The psychology of bullying at work: Explaining the detrimental effects on victims (via)
Hamburger, M. E, BAsile, K. C. & Vivolo, A. M. (2011) Measuring Bullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Bystander Experiences: A Compendium of Assessment Tools. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Rivera, L. K. (2011) Bullying of sexual minorities: How does multiple minority status affect the likelihood of being victimized? Master Thesis: Kaplan University
Sin, C. H., Hedges, A., Cook, C., Mguni, N. & Comber, N. (2009) Disabled people's experiences of targeted violence and hostility. Manchester: Research Team - Equality and Human Rights Commission
Wang, M.-L. (2012) Gender Differences Are Predictors of Workplace Bullying. Conference on Arts and Humanities 2012 Conference Proceedings
(photos via and via)
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