What is Bullying?
Bullying is aggressive, harmful, and unwanted behaviour directed at an individual to make them feel hurt, afraid, or humiliated. It is intentional and potentially repetitive actions by the aggressor in an attempt to exert their power in a negative manner, where they deliberately hurt someone. Bullying can have lasting effects on the victim, including depression, substance abuse, criminal behaviour, and challenges maintaining healthy relationships. When we think of bullying, we might think of students in schools getting bullied, but bullying can happen across all ages and environments, including in the workplace and at home. Bullying can take various forms. If you or someone you know is experience bullying, it is important to reach out and seek support.
Common Types of Bullying:
- Physical bullying – the use of physical force, including pushing, shoving, hitting, tripping, unwanted sexual touching, or stealing or destroying one’s personal belongings. Physical bullying might not always leave a physical scar.
- Verbal bullying – verbal attacks, including name-calling, teasing, uttering threats, spreading rumours, or any other kind of hurtful comments.
- Cyber bullying – using the internet, social media, text messages, or any other digital platforms to harass, intimidate, spread rumours, or otherwise insult someone.
- Social bullying – excluding someone from a group, spreading rumours, public humiliation, scapegoating, or giving someone the “silent treatment”. This can also take the form of cyber bullying when done in an online capacity.
- Discriminatory bullying – harassment based on sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender identity, religion or anything perceived as making an individual “different”.
Where Bullying can Happen:
Bullying in schools is a common occurrence. At least 1 in 3 adolescent students in Canada have reported being bullied, and almost half of the parents in the country have reported having a child that is the victim of bullying. In the majority of cases, bullying stops within 10 seconds when peers intervene or do not support the bullying behaviour. But bullying is not just limited to the school environment. In a study conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute, 37% of workers have been bullied, with 57% of the targets being women. The study also found that the majority of bullies, 72%, are people in positions of authority. Workplace bullying can involve destroying reputations by spreading false or incriminating information, humiliation in front of colleagues, controlling resources needed for an employee to succeed, and intimidation.
Where to Get Support
No matter where the bullying is taking place or who the bully is, this behaviour is never appropriate. It is also important to remember that the person experiencing the bullying is not alone. Reaching out for help and support is key to putting an end to bullying
The following links provide more information on resources to access for support:
Sources:
- What is bullying? What can be done? by Bullying Canada
- Working with a Bully, by the Canada Safety Council
- Bullying, by the Canadian Red Cross
- What is bullying, by the Kids Help Phone
- Workplace bullying, by the Anonymous Employee
- Workplace Bullying Institute, Bullying Bosses: A Survivor’s Guide
