What is Bullying?  Bullying is an aggressive behavior that is intentional and involves an imbalance of power or strength.

What is Bullying?  Bullying can take many forms, such as:  Physical (hitting or punching)  Verbal (teasing or name calling)  Emotional/Nonverbal (intimidation using gestures or social exclusion)  Cyberbullying (insults or false rumors over internet)

Facts on Bullying  An estimated 160,000 students miss school every day due to a fear of bullying or harassment.  There is a strong relationship between bullying as a youth and experiencing legal and criminal problems as an adult. One study showed 60% of those characterized as a bully in grades 6-9 had one or more criminal convictions by age 24.

Facts on Bullying  Attackers in more than 2/3 of 37 mass school shootings felt “persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked or injured by others”.  American children eight to 15 years of age rate bullying as a bigger problem than racism, sexual pressure or drug/alcohol use.  Boys tend to bully boys and girls. Girls tend to bully other girls.  In middle school, boys who are more passive or less physically mature than their peers are most often the target of bullies. Girls who physically mature early are most often the target of bullies.

Facts on Bullying  A bullying incident occurs every 7 seconds.  160,000 U.S students skip school daily to avoid being bullied.  32% of students report being bullied at school during the school year.  86% or 9/10 gay or lesbian students report being bullied.  Students are bullied because of #1: appearance, and a close #2: actual or perceived sexual orientation/gender expression.

REASONS PEOPLE BULLY:  1. People bully because others do it.  2. People bully because it makes them feel better (smarter, stronger, better)than the person being bullied.  3. People bully because they want to be accepted by a certain group (peer pressure).  4. People bully because it keeps them from being bullied.

Other Vocabulary  Stereotype: An overly simple picture or opinion of a person, group or thing.  Ex: Men are better at math than women are.

Other Vocabulary  Cyberbullying: willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones and other electrical devices  Example: stealing an online name and using it to share nasty rumors, sharing embarrassing images or video of another person or altering someone's messages or pictures.

Other Vocabulary  Bigot: Someone who, as a result of their prejudices, treats or views other people with fear, distrust, hatred, contempt, or intolerance on the basis of a person's opinion, ethnicity, race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics. prejudicesopinionethnicityrace religionnational origingendergender identity sexual orientationdisabilitysocioeconomic status  Ex: A bigot denies equal rights to gay people because he/she thinks being gay is wrong or a sin.