Just in the ninth grade I got bullied for nothing just because they didn't like me they bullied me because they thought that I was better than them so later on in ninth grade they really started picking on me so one of the bullies got in a fight with me and she got mad so since I'm in the tenth grade now they still bully me and want to fight me till this day but I try to not let them get to me I just have to have faith that this well just stop

Tengo 15 años y vivo en Málga, en España. El bullying homofobico es cada vez más presente, en contra de lo que dice la gente. Intentan hacer campañas`, pero lo único que consiguen es que sufran más. Empujones, caídas "accidentales", insultos y amenazas verbales son varias de las cosas que reciben los chicxs con acoso hoy día. Los acosadores utilizan elresto de su existencia en el instituto para mostrarse muy por encima de tí, y al final lo consiguen. Claro que lo consiguen, gracias a las amenazas y gracias a la gente que se les une sin personalidad propia. Esto nunca va a acabar. Acabarán suicidándose todos. 

School is never as you imagine it to be!

You imagine it to be a happy, lively place filled with laughter and buzzing with the sound of giggle filled conversations. Full of noise and activity like a flock of geese flying round you. School is often seen as a place where young people should feel safe, comfortable and able to achieve.

But it never really felt like that for me...for me it felt different, daunting and definitely not safe.

I was never really a ‘popular’ type of person. Right from the start of year 7 I struggled to make friends and the few friends I had, I soon realised would turn their back on me when I needed them most. School was in fact a lonely place full of nasty, shallow, plastic people who cared more about being popular than true friendship.  Year 7 wasn’t the best of years for me; but it took me a while to realise it was a year I could learn from.

The first day of year 7 really was great, we were all new, enthusiastic and full of questions. We were excited to be in a new environment and felt so grown up but at the same time nervous. We were used to being the big fish in a little pond last year but now suddenly the pond was more like a lake on a stormy day. No-one really knew each other then and it was hard to know who to cling to. But as the weeks turned into months; we were no longer new or wide eyed. We had been allocated tutors but I wouldn’t exactly call us a tutor group. We were more like a room full of individuals with different personalities that were forced to meet every day.

Everyone told me that it just takes time; big school is scary but I’ll get used to it. They didn’t understand. I couldn’t explain I was so unhappy, they wanted reasons, examples, evidence but nothing had happened that I could name, well not exactly but then it began. 

It started off with a single name, a horrible one, one so bad that I didn’t even want to repeat it.

As the weeks passed by it became worse, now they would say it every day and many more names as well.

It happened so often it was almost normal but hurt me more than I let people know.                                                                                                                                                            I was filled with questions, why were they doing this to me? What had I done wrong? Why did they hate me? Why could no one see what was happening?

The weeks came and went and the poisonous remarks were still continuing even though they had been warned to stop by our year head. They were continuous in their attempts to make me feel isolated, alone and worthless. The insults continued and the attacks got worse. One day a girl from year 11; locked me in my tutor room and wouldn’t let me out. When I tried to leave she blocked the door way and pushed me back. Looking back she was not that tall but to a year 7 she was a giant, she kept having a go at me but I had done nothing wrong. As the tears started to roll down my face, I begged and pleaded with her to let me out. I was so scared I didn’t think about the others in the room and they made no attempt to help me.  She kept screaming at me and tormenting me because I was a "snitch". As the tears rolled down my face and I accepted that I had no power in this situation I looked around for help but all I could see was the smiles on the girls and my forms faces.

How could they do this to me?

I realised then that my whole form was against me.                                                                                                                             I had no-one. I finally got out and broke down in tears; that was the final straw, I couldn’t be in that form anymore. I couldn’t trust anyone anymore and I felt helpless and broken.

I was moved tutor groups but nothing much changed in there. There was still the constant nasty names the other girls were popular and they had influence. I had never really had much confidence and had low self-esteem. I guess I was an easy target so that was how year 7 continued.

But one day in year 8, events changed me for the better.

One of the most malicious girls had been making my life a misery for weeks. On this particular day she had shoved me, barged into me and tried to trip me down the stairs. My adrenaline was building she had pushed me too far that day. She carried on, on the way down the road after school. As we approached the end of the street I turned round and hit her in the face with all my strength. I thought of every moment I had felt alone, isolated and small. I had had enough, all of those feelings welled up inside like a ticking bomb, with every step I took I could feel the tension building in chest and then it just happened. I hadn’t planned to hit her, I had never hit anyone before but there it was. I had hit her so hard that in slow motion I could she her rock backwards as the shock registered on her face. She froze for what seemed like hours and no one spoke. In the glorious silence I turned and walked away. My muscles were shaking but inside it felt good. I was as surprised as she was and I knew I would be in trouble if she came back for me but I didn’t care. In that moment I was no longer the victim.

I was fed up of being walked all over, fed up of not saying anything, fed up of people thinking they could do what they like to me.  Gossip about the incident had spread round school and everyone was talking about me but they weren’t saying much to my face. It gave me a sudden boost of confidence and the end of year 8 was better for me because people left me alone.

At the end of year 8 I was asked if I would like to move tutor groups again. This time to a tutor group with 13 students in "a nurture group" so I accepted the offer. It was a lovely small tutor group with a lovely tutor. Everyone seemed to get on and it felt better than before. Year 9 was a better year for me apart from the occasional argument which was quickly resolved. I felt able to learn, occasionally I even enjoyed school. Things were definitely getting better.

 

So as year 10 arrived I thought it was going to be one of the best years of my school life.  I had chosen by options, I had even made some good friends; I was actually looking forward to starting a new phase in my life.  The summer holidays passed too quickly but it was fine school was going to be great this year.  The first few weeks were good but the year soon took a turn for the worst. It was nothing like I had hoped. It was the worst year of my life…

The dramas started again when I was unexpectedly verbally assaulted by a stranger outside of school. She was the mother of a ‘friend’ or so I thought. She accused me of things that once again I had not done and compared me to an overweight dog! Like she could talk, what kind of parent goes around assaulting 14 year old girls?  I thought that was bad. But the worst was still to come...

Months passed and people seemed to find it entertaining to spread lies and gossip. They liked to wind people up a jack in a box and watch them explode on innocent unsuspecting passers-by. On Tuesday 5th March at precisely 1.15pm just as the bell deafened us all with its annoying voice I was violently assaulted. It was an unprovoked attack. I had said nothing to her she used to be a friend.

She completely flipped at me, pushing me off the table and smashing my head against another table, ragging my hair and whacking my head sideward off the floor. I tried to protect myself but she was on top of me and I couldn’t get her off.  All I could do was try to cover my head and protect myself but I felt like I was going to pass out. I don’t know how long it lasted but I can recall every blow every second felt like hours, every minute seemed to last forever.  It took my tutor and another two members of staff to get her off me. I was in complete shock, floods of tears and I could not stop shaking.

She had pulled a muscle in my neck, similar to an injury you might get in a car crash, I had bruises all down my face and shoulders and ragged clumps of my hair out. The confidence that I had built up over the last year had been viciously destroyed in a matter of moments. I was told if I didn't want to come in the next few days I didn’t have to. I could stay at home and hide, it would have been easy but I forced myself into school and back into lessons. I was not going to let them destroy me and my life.

My whole form was still in complete shock…

Two weeks passed...

I had given statements and the police had interviewed people. I was summoned to a meeting with the police, the girl and people from school. It was the scariest thing I have ever done. Facing her again remembering how much hatred and anger she had inside her was almost too much to handle. I couldn’t even speak they wanted us to talk but all I could do was cry. I felt paralysed. She apologised, said how “sorry she was, that she knew I trusted her and she was wrong to lose it like that” and I believed her. So the girl was allowed back to school.

She had not changed, she continued to make my life a misery getting her mates to join in and bully me. Everyone said she had difficulties with her temper, and she had not had a good life which was one of the reasons I forgave her but no one could see that, they only wanted to listen to one side of the story. She was eventually removed from school, but this didn’t stop it her mates continued to bully me because they blamed me for her exclusion.  Posting vile, nasty comments and statuses about me on Facebook, telling everyone about how they we’re going to put me in hospital. The threats hurt me just as much, more so in some ways because they were always there. Even at home the messages still came through.

 

It broke my heart how and destroyed my trust the way she had made me suffer was just cold, calculated, cruelty. They completely ruined my confidence and I was haunted by the thought of what she had done to me. I felt like I was entering a deep dark hole I would never be able to escape from. She had made me feel so low I never realised it was possible to feel that low and still be alive. It had an impact so severe it took over my life. I spent the rest of year 10 in PLC and went to hardly any lessons because I was so scared. Coming to school every day was like torture getting out of bed became a struggle never mind the stress of walking through the gates or walking into a class room. I couldn’t face it anymore, I hid away, arrived late, left early, I didn’t go to any lesson for months.

Not only had she ruined my confidence she had effected my education. I missed so much not just lessons but life.

Still now, nearly 16 months on, the haunting memories of what happened still torment me. I’m a different person now. She’s changed me. I hope that someday I will be that loud, chatty, bubbly girl again that everyone knew me as but she seems like a distant memory to me.

I cannot pin point the moment in which life changed once again but I realised I am not letting anyone make me live in fear anymore. I am strong and I will be happy. The past cannot be changed but the future is mine to control. This never-ending tear of sadness, anxiousness and fear is going to stop because WHAT DOESEN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER!

I have been bullied. Never physical, just verbal teasing like 'teacher's pet' and 'know it all'. It made me mad, upset and it was tiring week after week, school after school.  I have been verbally sexually harassed once in my senior year by a freshman guy. During Latin class the freshman kept suggesting that a dude I helped with classwork in class and I were going to go to the bathroom and so one. Then I saw him at a favorite fast food joint and while nothing happened, I really did not want to go there anymore. The end result was my mom called the school, I talked to the assistant principal and a cop who said I was not the first incident with this student and to be more direct, and the freshman dude never talked to me again. I also was okay going to the favorite fast food joint again. 

I have acted as like a bully, although I did not recognize I was a bully and no one called me one. My friends were my friends but they were intimated by me on occasions-I cannot recall specific incidents.

Knowing both sides, I want to as a teacher to end bullying and have my class be safe for everyone. 

My son came home from school this past Friday crying. I asked him what was wrong and he didn't really want to tell me. So I told him if something is wrong he needs to tell me so I might be able to help him. So he told me that he passed gas at school and a few kids made fun of him. I told him everyone passes gas I don't care who they are and he said thats not why he's upset. So he began to tell me that the kids not only made fun of him but they wrote 666 on him. Thats when I looked at the marks on him and went straight over to the school. The principle said it will be taken care of first thing Monday morning. So I took him to school and needless to say the principle gave the 2 boys ISS and had them both write him a letter apologizing to him for what they done. He didn't want to stay at school and like I told him "you are smart, nice and a good kid, don't let them bring you down. He went to school today and said on his way out the door "momma your right I am smart" he walked out with his head held high. What happened to him was completely uncalled for. I'm happy that it got taken care of and he told me what happened to him. Kids these days can be very mean and inconsiderate.

I'm thirteen...I'm not that pretty... I'm too tall...and I'm not perfect to everybody's standards. I have a birthmark.. its on my left cheek and its very visible. My birthmark was the first reason i started to get bullied; it started in pre-k. I didn't think it was that weird or unnatural to have a birthmark as everyone else did.. they started to make fun of me... calling me stupid names that half the time mad no sense but they still hurt. When I reached 4th grade I started to tell teachers about all the horrible things people would say.. they would say they would take care of it but all they did was say something to the kid and let it go on. Soon I learned that no one would help. When I reached 5th grade I always hung out with this one girl.. she was my best friend and one of my only friends.. people started to call us gay and lesbian and I felt horrible.. it seemed like it was my fault my friend had to deal with the cruel people i dealt with most of my life... I was toxic for everyone around me.. people wanted me to suffer and they knew attacking my friends would add to the suffering. Going into 6th grade I thought everything would get easier for me but it didn't... by then i had started to cover my birthmark with my hair but that didn't stop them from seeing it... more people began to hate me for no reason and those people would make other people hate me... I started to get used to the hatred.. until I started to date this one guy.. I really liked him.. and we dated for almost a year but then I found out he was telling everyone in the school that I was worthless and that he would never date me.. I decided to confront him about it and he said that had been meaning to talk to me to me... after that I got pretty depressed.. it was the first time someone I truly cared about made me feel completely worthless. Summer of 2013 came and I liked this guy but my friend liked him too so i told her to date him and then I liked this other guy and we started to date... I fell in love with him.. and he told me he fell in love with me to... we dated for 8 months.. then he broke my heart... that feeling of complete worthlessness came back but it was stronger this time. Love seems pointless to me.. like people have said I'm worthless, ugly, and impossible to love..

When I was a kid I was lucky.  I was innately popular.  It wasn't something that I did, it just was.  My mom noticed that kids seemed to gravitate toward me and she asked if there were kids that I "left out".  She then went on to tell me how she was bullied as a kid and that, as a popular kid it was my responsibility to make sure that others felt safe.  Because my peers listened to me, it was my responsibility to make sure I spoke for those that didn't have a strong voice.  Heavy stuff for a little kid but to this day, I recognize bullying everywhere and something inside me stirs to action.  It takes everyone to stand up and say enough, especially those who are lucky enough to be respected for no good reason at all (like me).

be strong

Being born a little before the word ''Bullying'' was described as a social problem, kids like me did have a hard time. It was back in the 90s when little was known about this (at least in my country) about the whole huge thing that bullying involves. If we happened to go and tell an adult that some kids at school called us names or threatened to hurt us physically, most of them would let it slip and say ''It's kids stuff, love'' or something along those lines. I was also told, by a teacher, that providing that maybe I was unlucky to be more mature than the rest of my classmates, I would have to either be like them or accept that my life was going to be rough. I think you're kind of getting an idea now of how it was like.

I had always been a lively kid. I was never told otherwhise. I made my parents happy and proud, teachers were happy with my behaviour and I thought that I had friends who liked me. Mistaken as I was, those kids did not want anything but harm and unhappiness to me, and yes, some kids think this way, whatever the reason may be. Before they really showed their intentions directly to me, they had bullied another girl in class. I defended her, argumenting that there was not reason why she should be an outsider. Same with my gay best friend. It was the begging of it all. If I was not loved by my classmates, I was back then hated for standing up for the victims (I would do that again even if I knew the consequences). I was 8 years old by then and it continued until I was 17 and finished high school. Everyday, the moment I crossed the threshold of my class, that group, THAT group, stared at me, threw things at me, called me a monster, a hideous being, shouting that I was disgusting and that I would never be loved by anyone. And they would always point out that I had a weight problem. Well, they never said a weight problem, they called me fat, whale, cow, chubby, fat bag. They talked about my hair, my acne, my clothes. Everything was a reason to make me feel bad with my self... Sometimes I wanted to kill myself, others I wanted to kill them. My brain wasn't working properly anymore, I couldn't physically bear to wear anything that wasn't black or a non bright colour so I wouldn't get their attention. It was rather rough to live with that, to live with at least 20 eyes scorting your every move from 8 am to 5 pm. I had to run home, I didn't want to stay after that time. Neither wait outside before the entrance was scheduled.

And whoever reads this may wonder... why you never stood up? Why did you not tell a teacher? Well, teachers and my parents found out the worst possible way. One day, my friend decided to stand up for himself and tell them that they were being unfair and terrible to us, we were human beings and we were being treated like rubbish. They laughed. They laughed for a long time. Every laugh made every single inch of my body burn with intense anger. I told them that they were horrible people. They told us they would be waiting outside to beat us up. I was not ready for that, I was not ready to be humiliated in public to be BEATEN UP. That did not fit in my schemes, it just did not fit in my definition of normal behaviour. I went out and he came to us. My teacher grabbed his arm. Then a long process of talks and psychologists started. And yes, we were called the weak and exaggerated, but they were telling us they were there to help. I became hermetic, I would not want to talk about that again ever to any of those people. Only one teacher tried to help, and although she did a lot for us, her help was lost in an ocean of indifference coming from the principal's office. It did not stop there, but it got easier to handle. I'm not sure if it is because I built an armour or because it actually got easier.

I left school for university. I couldn't be more excited! I thought it had all finished, that it was a fresh start, a new life, away from those people who thought that our pain was their healing. I was right in that, there were never more bullies. But there was the ghost of the bulling I had been suffering through my entire childhood and early teenage years. The words fat, disgusting, weirdo still echoed in my head. And they lived and live with me. As if they were codified in my DNA. Everytime I do something that someone normal would do without problems I have to think mnay times what the situation to come will be like, what people will be there, etc. It was not until a year ago that I could talk to my Uni classmates. I simple couldn't speak to people of my same age so all my friends were either bully victims or people way older than me. In relationships, I went through abusive, nonsense relationships because after all that's what I thought that I deserved. I was ashamed of my body and didn't go to the beach for YEARS. I didn't wear skirts or shorts for YEARS. I hid myself for YEARS. Oh, and I had an eating disorder with several episodes that repit once in a while. Stress, OCD and anorexia was what bullying gave me. But it gave me something more.

Bullying made me realise who are the people worth having in your life. It taught me that popularity is not a synonim to kindness. It taught me the worst of society and the best of those who helped me through. It killed my self esteem, but I am building it back with the help of amazing people around me who won't judge me when I'm down. I don't know if I will go back to those sordid, dark thoughts that have accompanied me in life. Being realistic, they will never leave me, but I can either make a victim of myself or use that as a lesson. And I chose the second. I may have trust issues, I may go mental sometimes, but it's me after all. And I wouldn't have made it without my parents, my friends and the most especial person I've ever met who I'm more than deeply in love with.

You can fight bullying, claim your rights and make it all end talking to teachers and your parents. Make them listen to your problems, it's their job afterall. But most importantly, their words DO NOT DEFINE WHO YOU ARE, it defines what do they lack. The fact that someone has the inhability to see how amazing you are doesn't mean that you aren't wonderful right?.

Hi I'm Lexi. I am 17 years old and will be graduating from high school in a few weeks. My whole life I have always been a bigger girl, and I felt that this set me apart. It also didn't help throughout my schooling career I was tormented about my weight. Several times people told me that I was fat, that i looked like a cow, that no one could ever love me, that I was ugly, and that I needed to stop eating. These words took a toll on me and my self esteem hasn't fully recovered. But I am not here to tell you my story. My story is nothing compared to the one of my little brother Travis.

Travis is 14 years old and is in 8th grade. When he was two years old he was diagnosed with autism and went through many years of therapy that helped him through his disorder. He is highly functionally and seems normal but he still struggles with the social awkwardness and the sensory issues that most autistic kids experience. He has struggled making friends ever since 2nd grade when other kids started to notice his issues. People called him a freak and he was excluded by everyone. He also started gaining weight during this time because he used eating to cope with the pain of being isolated. The bullying only progressed as he got in to middle school. Kids would call him fat, tell him he needed a bra for his "man boobs", they would grab his chest and tell him he had the biggest boobs in the whole school. These were and still are everyday occurrences for him and the school has done little to nothing to stop/prevent this from happening to him. It's gotten so bad that he doesn't even want to go to school anymore and wants to drop out to be home-schooled for high school. He's started to believe he is worthless and its very depressed. I am worried that soon he might kill himself because he just won't be able to take it anymore.

I want my brother and other kids like my brother to never have to deal with this again. That's why I'm taking a stand.