The issue of bullying has been existent in most American schools for decades. The common victims of bullying are often children who are considered different or weird by their peers. Teenagers who form a part of the LGBT community are more likely to get bullied because of their ‘abnormal’ sexual orientation. Most children perceive them as a potential target for their bullying tactics. The bullying of teenagers with a homosexual sexual orientation has remained at a constant 90 % in the last 5 years while bullying of other ‘different’ children has reduced significantly (AntÓnio and Moleiro 731). The negative attitudes that other children have towards lesbian, gay, bisexual children drive them to tease, harass, assault and bully them. The documentary Bully directed by Lee Hirsch and the dicumentary Homophobic Bullying, expose the lives and struggles of LGBT teenagers at school.
Based on the film Bully by Lee Hirsch, the increasing cases of LGBT teenage bullying is as a result of clueless adults who either choose to turn the other way or participate in the bullying. Kelby Jonson’s story, shows a young girl who is trying to fit in for being a lesbian (Bully Film). After coming out, her friends and family friends shun her and her family. She becomes as target for violence and extreme bullying to a point that some boys hit her with a minivan and speed off because of her LGBT identity. Other children at school ignore and harass her throughout the school year. To make matters worse, the teachers who have the authority in the school and should stand up for her exclude her from events and bully her continuously. Kelly is a strong woman and despite the intense bullying on her she refuses to leave town so that her bullies ‘don’t win’.
The short documentary Homophobic bullying tells the stories of different characters who are bullied in school for being gay. Some are bullied to a point where they cannot take it anymore and are driven into suicide as a means to escape their horrendous experiences at school and within the communities they belong to.” They called me a paki and a faggot”. “My school refused to acknowledge it” ("Homophobic Bullying | Your Stories").” My teachers looked the other day” Their words killed my best friend”. These are single statements that tell the story of the boys and girls who have witnessed, been victims of and suffered from bullying. The documentary goes on to show that bullying is something that has no boundaries. Anyone can be a subject to bullying provided they are perceived as being different from the rest of the crowd.
The film explore on bullying because it has become rampant in the society. At least one in three children can confess to having had an experience with bullying. The films project the randomness of bullying in American schools and in the society in general. They aim to tell the realities of bullying ‘from the horse’s mouth’ by focusing on real experiences and real people.
The most horrible thing about LGBT bullying is that teachers and people in authoritative positions such as the school administrations choose to look the other way and pretend like it does not exist. However, in looking the other way LGBT teens suffer in silence, feel lonely and frustrated. Many will opt for drugs and suicide to escape the rejection that they face amongst their peers. Being silent about LGBT bullying has resulted in more cases of this type of bullying. Young boys and girls who undergo bullying because of their sexual orientation are increasing on a yearly basis. The impact of this is a society where people are afraid to be themselves and are forced to be someone they are not so that they can be accepted by their peers and other people around them.
The documentary Bully shows the need for communities to come together to fight against all forms of bullying. Tyler Long’s parents lead the community in fighting against bullying in school after their seventeen year old son is bullied into suicide. They start a campaign that focuses on bullying awareness and give several students a chance to narrate their bullying experiences. In this campaign it is clear that the teachers have turned a blind eye to bullying making it even more rampant in schools.
Communities must come together and accept that people are born different and that they have a right to be who they are (Sherer and Nickerson). Diversity should be more accepted in the societies we live in rather than discriminated against. When teacher, school administrations and parents come together to support their children and fight against bullying, the cases of bullying are likely to reduce greatly.
Additionally, one of the main things that has contributed to a lot of bullying against LGBT teenagers is the silence from their peers. Most students tend to keep quiet to avoid confrontations with the bullies. When people keep quiet, bullies feel like what they are doing is okay and continue doing it. Since most people who are bullied are weak and unable to fight for themselves, children who are considered ‘normal’ by their peers must stand up and declare war on bullying. Too many lives are being lost are being destroyed because of bullying.
Bullying should be perceived as a societal problem. The entire American society is facing extreme cases of bullying that are likely to increase if nothing is done about it. In this connection, the law enforcement, and the state and federal governments must come up with rules against bullying and consequences to perpetrators irrespective of the age. Bullying should be treated as a criminal offense due to the negative effects it has on its victims. Taking it lightly as the society has in the past will not result to any major changes as far as bullying is concerned.
Electronic bullying has become a common form of bullying. Most bullies hide behind their keyboards and target weak victims of the LGBT community or people they consider weird and different. Bullying through social media sites such as Facebook, twitter and Instagram have become very common and driven several teenagers to suicide or mental illness. Based on research by the LGBT activists, 23% of LGBT teenagers are bullied electronically. Electronic bullying is mostly done through negative and hurtful comments mostly sent through messages or commented under someone social media posts. This type of bullying leaves the victim with a low self-esteem and feelings of rejection from peers. Many of them will get into drugs or harm themselves to deal with the pain that they go through reading the bullying texts messages or comments aimed at them. Due to the fake profiles of the perpetrators in social media sites they are difficult to trace and prosecute
Social media sites have the responsibility of identifying down bullies by tracking them down, and exposing them. People who use pseudo accounts to target other people with mean comments must be stopped. This can be done by verifying accounts that appear to be fishy and observing the activities of such accounts on social media. People who repeatedly bully others must be banned from social media sites.
In conclusion bullying of the LGBT teenagers in school has remained at a constant 90% over the years. This shows that nothing is being done by the communities, educators and the school administrators to stop the bullying. Electronic bullying has particularly picked up with the coming of technology and has become a popular form of bullying. To stop bullying, parents, teachers and members of the community have to come together and fight bullying in schools. Teachers must pay more attention to bullying and punish students who engage in it.