A lot of people would be more than willing to stop bullies from spreading their wrath on others! Do not be surprised to find some people resorting to just about anything to avoid getting bullied. A survey revealed that the number of teens desiring to undergo plastic surgery after having been bullied doubled, according to The Guardian.
United Kingdom's anti-bullying charity organization, Ditch the Label, questioned British teens about anything under the sun related to bullying. Over 505 of the teens who responded admitted that they have been bullied one way or another due to their looks.
One out of two of these respondents did not like the way he/she looked. Among the respondents, 56 percent were inferior about being overweight, almost one out of five desired breast implants, and five percent sought Botox procedures.
Ditch the Label CEO and founder, Liam Hackett, noted that bullying those deemed to have inferior physical attributes bear severe long-term negative self-perceptions on the victim in the long run.
"The evidence is clear: young people are now considering drastic and invasive measures to alter their appearances due to insecurities and bullying," Hackett said.
Kiscape executive, Claude Knights, said that the stereotypical notions on youth could be held accountable for producing such insecurities. "This commercialization of childhood leads in too many cases to distorted body image and low self-esteem," the executive disclosed.
Knights stated that young people who did not live up to the stereotypical "childhood commercialization" ended up getting bullied and harassed.
Shrewsbury's Priory School deputy head, Paul Kitchener, noticed that most of the on-campus harassments now angle towards verbal instead of physical bullying. "There has always been bullying at school but it was often very visible. I found it very much easier to deal with bullying at the start of my career than over the last few years," he said. "We now have very little bullying of a physical nature or actually in the school."
Kitchener observed that bullying is now mostly done through online means. Hence, young people have no sense of refuge from hurtful words - even when they get home. "Now once they close the door at home, the bullying can carry on, with Snapchat, texts and social media," he noted.
In other parts of the world, on-campus bullying has also taken a toll on young people's overall good well-being.
A former student at Singapore's Raffles Girls School plans to sue the institution's management for failing to protect her against bullies, as reported in The Straits Times. Now 18 years old, Cheryl Tan claims that she suffered emotional and financial damage due to the institution's management failure to protect her against harassment.
In the United States, racial bullying among kids is commonly observed. In fact, racial bullies in school buses are sometimes out and about in the country, as depicted in an article in Freep.com.
