Nothing is a more urgent reminder of the dangers of teasing in the age of social media than the story of a kid who takes her own life. Earlier this week, a 15-year-old New York teen named Felicia Garcia committed suicide by leaping in front of a moving train. The Staten Island freshman made her tragic jump while her classmates watched, allegedly because she "dwelled on rumors" from bullies, The Huffington Post reports.
Friends said they never suspected she would take her own life as they waited for the train after school, but Garcia's Twitter account revealed otherwise. Shortly before her suicide, she wrote on Twitter: "I can't, I'm done, I give up."
The Disney Channel needs to do a better job of self-censorship, according to a Pennsylvania mom. That's because the channel recently insulted her children and others who suffer from celiac disease, says mom Amy Raslevich.
In a recent On-Demand episode of the show Jessie, a boy named Stuart who is sensitive to gluten has pancakes thrown in his face and is portrayed as annoying, the Huffington Post reports. When Raslevich and her two children (who have celiac disease) viewed the video, "There were tears in my daughter's eyes, and my son's fist was clenched," she told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Disney is a trusted brand among parents and kids, so the company needs to be more conscientious, Raslevich notes. By airing the video, "Disney gave children permission, and an example, to further isolate my children and others like them because of their medical conditions. Their characters made it OK to characterize a real illness as an annoyance that is justification for the 'cool kids' to make fun of the 'others'. This isn't acceptable for anyone. It is the definition of bullying."
Raslevich says her children are often alienated because of their restrictive diets, so she petitioned the channel to pull the episode. Disney complied — plus apologized for its callousness.
Do you think the Disney Channel needs to be more discerning about what it airs on TV?
A Utah mom gave her daughter a taste of her own medicine, forcing her to wear unflattering thrift shop clothes as a punishment for bullying another student about her appearance, the Huffington Post reports.
According to Salt Lake City's KSTU, the 10-year-old girl named Kaylee had been teasing another fourth grader about the way she dressed so much that the other girl no longer wanted to attend school. When questioned about the bullying, Kaylee showed little remorse. So, mom Ally decided to show Kaylee how it feels to be teased about her clothes.
"If she chooses to be a bully after this, then at some point in her life, she's going to be on the other side and she'll know what it really feels like," Ally said.
What do you think? Is making your teen wear ugly clothes a good way to stop her from bullying someone else about their appearance?
The school cafeteria can be a scary place for tots who must avoid certain foods because even a trace amount can trigger a dangerous reaction. According to FARE, Food Allergy Research & Education, over 15 million people in the US (one in 13 children) have food allergies. As if living with the condition weren't tough enough, about one third of kids affected by food allergies report being bullied, often by classmates taunting them with food.
Food Allergy Awareness Week kicked off yesterday and FARE is using this week to launch the "It's Not a Joke" public service announcement to increase understanding of allergies. The PSA presents food allergies in the context of bullying to make it more relatable to people who do not suffer from them. The powerful video definitely pulls on the heartstrings, but is it too tough?
The first day my child started school, he became the subject of the class bully's attention. Starting at school for the first time is nerve-racking enough for both parent and child, but to have that first day memory shredded by bullying is truly awful.
We're happy to present this article from our partner site Yahoo! Shine:
Nils Pickert's 5-year-old son likes wearing dresses. If anyone thinks that's odd they can take it up with Nils. He's the guy in the skirt.
The German dad has become a role model not only for his son, but for parents around the world, after a photograph of the pair holding hands in red skirts spread across the internet.
"Yes, I'm one of those dads, that tries to raise their children equal," he explained in an essay published alongside the photo in Emma, a German feminist magazine.
Celebrities who were bullied as kids
Pickert never minded that his son liked dressing in little girl's clothes, but when his family moved from West Berlin to a small southern town in Germany, he learned that other people did. In fact, it became a "town wide issue," according to Pickert, whose essay was translated by Tumblr user steegeschnoeber.
Related: Breastfeeding Dad Raises New Questions About Motherhood
A new school didn't make life any easier for his young son. Shortly after his first day, he stopped reveling in his own tastes and Pickert worried about the damage it could wreak on his self-confidence. "I didn't want to talk my son into not wearing dresses and skirts," Pickert explained. "He didn't make friends doing that in Berlin… so after a lot of contemplation I had only one option left: To broaden my shoulders for my little buddy and dress in a skirt myself."
Ah, if only Mean Girls were just a movie. For thousands of kids returning to school, bullying is a cruel reality — and some beauty brands are taking notice by partnering with foundations that encourage kids and teens to be kind. Secret is donating $1 of every purchase of its Mean Stinks Clinical deodorant ($8) to Girls on the Run, a nonprofit that emphasizes confidence and positive behavior through running. Smart-mouthed body care brand Soap & Glory is donating money from Sexy Mother Pucker lip gloss in Baby Doll ($15) to help STOMP Out Bullying's help line for bullied kids. What's more, the nonprofit will also receive a portion of proceeds from Tanda's Zap acne device ($49). Because no matter how you look at it, there's nothing beautiful about being mean.
Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas is an empowering role model, and she continues to inspire with her honesty and positive spirit in a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey. The 16-year-old made history this Summer when she became the first African-American woman to win the all-around gymnastics gold medal at the Olympics, but she tells Oprah it wasn't an easy road, as she was bullied at a gym where she trained in Virginia. Gabby said, "I was just, you know, kind of getting racist jokes, kind of being isolated from the group. So it was definitely hard. I would come home at night and just cry my eyes out." She added that her teammates even called her a "slave."
The head of the gym and her fellow gymnasts deny the accusations, with the CEO saying, "Gabby's remarks were hurtful and without merit. . . . We are good people. We never were knowingly involved in any type of bullying or racist treatment."
No one really knows for certain what took place at the gym except those who were there when the alleged remarks were made. What we do know is that speaking out about bullying and racism for a teenager — famous or not — isn't easy. And this isn't the only time Gabby has confronted detractors. She responded to hurtful comments about her hair with confidence, saying, "I just made history and people are focused on my hair? It can be bald or short, it doesn't matter." Hopefully, Gabby's ability to stand up for herself with poise will help young people in the same situation overcome bullying.
Source: Twitter User Oprah
Bully just may be the most important movie of the year. The documentary weaves together the stories of five families dealing with the long-term effects of school bullying — two that have recently lost their children to suicide and three that are experiencing it day in and day out. While the film has received significant media attention for receiving an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board due to the inclusion of six curse words (it is now being distributed without a rating through many theater chains beginning today), it is the honest, heartfelt look at how 13 million kids are treated each year that should make it required viewing for every parent and school-aged child.
I spoke with the film's director, Lee Hirsch, about the bullying epidemic, the ratings controversy, and why even parents of kindergartners need to see Bully.
LilSugar: You've really started a national dialogue with this film — was that your goal?
Lee Hirsch: In a way, it was my goal. We were busy thinking, what could our movement look like, how could we do this, how do we engage, and how do we amplify? I don’t think I ever imagined that we would have this level of support and that we would grow to be this high. It just feels like just a wonderful blessing to have so much support.
I knew that there were so many people that had this narrative, and I remember when I was first talking about this film, I would say, "God, everybody has a story when it comes to bullying." But I didn’t really feel the way that I do now. Now I really feel like there are hundreds of thousands of people speaking out, [and] you start to see the impact of all these generations of people who’ve had this experience, who never really had a place to process them. It’s really exciting.
LS: With the R rating, Bully’s getting more attention than anyone probably ever expected. Why did you decide not to bleep out the six curse words and get the PG-13 rating? Was it worth fighting to keep them in there if it means that the film might not be seen by everybody who needs to see it?
LH: I think it’s worth fighting, because what we are saying is that this is a movie about what happens. It's what really happens when it comes to bullying. In this bullying and situations of bullying, language is critical. Language matters — it's a weapon. It's such a ridiculous argument that the MPAA says that they will allow one F word, but what if you see the film four times? It makes no sense! On the flip side, we are saying we are talking about bullying, we are talking about violence, we are talking about people being numb to violence, and so the MPAA has put a rule on that, they have stamped movies that have sexified and glorified violence all the time with a PG-13 and PG ratings. So I think the stamp matters — it matters for the people that are bullied.
LS: You spent a year in three Iowa schools. How did you convince the boards of education to let you film in their schools?
LH: We had rigorous conversations with the schools; it took many conversations and days of flying out there. We presented them honestly what we were trying to do with this movie — what our hopes were. We wanted to show what it looks like from the perspective of being able to just really see what goes on at a school. They were very brave. The school district is taking a lot of heat from this film, and at the same time, most school districts would never agree to this — they wouldn’t open their doors, wouldn’t admit they have a problem.
