We explain what bullying is, its causes, possible consequences and how to prevent it. Also, what are the different types of bullying.
What is bullying?
The term bullying is the most recent of a set of names that have been given over time to bullying, harassment, harassment, abuse or maltreatment at school. In other words, the various forms of abuse and persecution to which children are often subjected and teenagers in or around a school context. The word bullying is a loan from English, coming from "bully" (abuser).
It is a form of violence that can go unnoticed by parents and authorities, who tend to naturalize it as “boyish things” and downplay it. However, this Social phenomenon can cause enormous emotional and psychological damage to the victim, in addition to encouraging and normalizing the exercise of violence on the abuser.
Bullying can be carried out by one or more people, who dedicate sustained efforts to harassment, ridicule, physical intimidation and public humiliation of the victim.
Usually creates a climate of collective lynching and isolation of great cruelty to the emotions of the victim. In addition, it turns the entire group against them, since many third parties join the aggression out of fear of becoming the next victims, or because they feel protected and powerful being on the side of the abusers.
This harassment can take place in person, through social networks or in many other ways, inside and outside the educational campus. It can consist of verbal and psychological insults and humiliation, or also physical attacks and violence. There are no single applicable criteria regarding who may or may not be bullied.
Types of bullying
There are many forms of bullying or bullying practices, such as:
- Social blocking. It consists of promoting or organizing the marginalization or social isolation of the victim, prohibiting him from participating in social or sports activities, excluding him from group dynamics, or even demanding that no one speak to him, under threat of suffering the same fate.
- Harassment. Under this name are included various dynamics of systematic harassment, persecution and intimidation, which insist on a message of contempt, inconsideration, humiliation, ridicule and even hatred.
- Social manipulation. This is the name given to the attempts to distort the public image of a partner, indisposing third parties against him, inventing accusations, implicating him in problems with others, to foster a negative appreciation of the group that later leads to further aggression.
- Coercion and coercion. That is to say, behaviors intimidation that seek to force the victim to take actions or say things against their own will, under threat of physical violence, of social or other violence. This imposes on the victim a stigma of weakness, helplessness or submission, to place the abuser in a position of can or authority.
- Violence. This is the most visible point of all, which crosses the line of bodily integrity and can cause temporary or permanent physical damage. Physical assault can occur at different levels, ranging from simple abuse to beatings and even sexual violence.
- Cyberbullying or cyberbulling. This is the name given to the harassment that occurs through social networks, through defamation, unwanted exposure of private life, kidnapping of accounts and personal material, etc.
Bullying causes
The causes of bullying lie, first and foremost, in the abusive person, generally the victim in turn of abusive parents, dysfunctional homes and probably a burden of violence.
Their reasons for the abuse can be of different types, from an unconscious claim of affection, envy of the boy who is abusing or different dynamics close to psychopathy that denote a worrying absence of empathy. In addition, many abusers can present different degrees of mental illness or emotional handicaps.
On the other hand, the climate of the institution Educational can be more or less conducive to bullying. Institutions that are too rigid, in which an implacable order prevents the communication between students and teachers, or on the contrary, institutions without any kind of order and discipline, may be favorable for the emergence of this type of behaviors.
Bullying consequences
The consequences of bullying are really serious. On the one hand, they naturalize violence, cruelty and injustice in the school environment, allowing it to nest within future generations, aware from an early age of the terrible dynamics between victim and perpetrator.
Abusers reproduce outside the home the pain and suffering they suffer in their family nucleus. Thus, in the face of the inaction of the system and the defenselessness of the victim, violent and cruel behaviors are reinforced to the abuser, instead of teaching him from an early age to identify and reject pathological social dynamics.
The worst part of the consequences of bullying falls to the victim, subjected to physical, emotional and psychological torture that will leave traces on their psyche in formation. Destruction of the self esteem, the development of phobias Social problems and the perennial sense of guilt are just some of the possible consequences, the identification and treatment of which often require therapeutic help, even in adulthood.
In addition, there are shorter-term consequences, such as violent reparation behavior on the part of the victim, who, tired of living in fear and defenselessness, is pushed into criminal behavior, as often occurs in shootings and mass killings in schools. Americans.
Bullying prevention
Specialists affirm that only through a simultaneous intervention on individuals, their family environments and the educational institution, is it possible to root out bullying. However, this is influenced by numerous sociocultural factors that go beyond the educational sphere, and which often make it difficult just to identify the abuser.
However, schools have an obligation to foster communication between students and teachers. This prevents abuse cases from being invisible to the institution's staff, especially those in charge of discipline and those in charge of psychological assistance, if any.
Parental participation in this sense is key, as well as breaking the comfort of classmates' indifference: the abuser must be identified, reported and his behavior rejected by the group, so that social pressure falls on the behavior negative, rather than on the victim.
Finally, the empowerment of the victim is always a useful tool, hand in hand with psychological therapy. The teaching Martial arts and self-defense methods can positively affect your self-esteem and give you resources when it comes to dealing with abusive situations from a healthier perspective.