GEEKS BEING BULLIED
By Lee A Farruga
Bullying is universal, but is
being a geek the main reason one gets bullied. Are geeks bullied more
today or is it the older geeks who had it the worse. Is being a geek
the real reason why one gets bullied?
I started my research by simply
Googling “bullying geeks in school”. While I got a lot of hits on
being a geek who bullies and how not to bully at comic-cons, there
were still a few articles I found whose titles seemed to be generally
what I was looking for, but as I found, well, not so much.
“Geeks
Guide To Not Getting Bullied” (sparknotes.com, April 24, 2012)
Their suggestions were aimed mainly at not antagonizing those lower
on the IQ scale. For example, don't say a test was easy, or mention
you got a high score, or correct someone's grammar. Their absolute
worse advice was “Pretend to be Dumb” - yes they actually said
that. There was no mention of gamers or cosplay, or don't read your
comics in public. Most comments to the article said that their
popular kids in school were the smart kids, so these didn't appy at
all.
“Six
Lessons Learned From Being Bullied as a Geek Kid” (i09.com, Dec
7, 2012) Again, the post was more about generally nasty people
bullying someone they perceive as different, but no specific mention
of anyone doing anything “geeky” that led to getting bullied. The
article did, however, have some very good tips and discussion in the
comments.
“Geeks
Don't Get Bullied Simply For Being Geeks” (kotaku.com, Feb 1,
2013) This article was much more realistic and made a lot of sense.
It said that being passionate about something (the definition of
“geek”) and being honest about it is what makes you vulnerable,
whether it's comics, science, dancing or anything really – geeky or
not. They also mention gender and homophobia. Geeky things like
games, comics, etc. operate outside of gender roles – girls playing
shooter games, boys reading instead of playing football.
In the Kotaku post they also
mention another article
“Why
Geeks Get Bullied (Not Necessarily for Being Geeks)” in The
Atlantic, Jan 31, 2013. It said that there are other factors that
contribute to being bullied and one of those is “Cultural Capital”.
They define it as having things beyond finances that can influence
social mobility. One of the class markers is being
intellectual/nerdy/geeky. This becomes a sign of privilege to some.
The bullies take offense to the idea of being left behind. One
example of this comes from Diana Vick – steampunk artist and
founder of Steamcon in Seattle. She remembers a boy who said he
needed to bring along a dictionary on their dates just to understand
her. That relationship obviously didn't last.
What I found from the sum total
of the information I looked at was that they all said the same thing
– people will always attack those they perceive as different. It
doesn't matter whether you're a geek, your skin colour is different
from the majority, or you like to sing, there are those who need a
scapegoat and will grasp at anything they can.
With being a geek becoming
mainstream today, there is a lot less bullying for that reason
specifically. My girls talked to friends about this subject and they
all said their schools have anime and gaming groups now. My girls
have never experienced being bullied simply for being a geek.
While there still is and, sadly,
probably always will be bullying, we've come a long way in helping to
educate about and prevent it. In Ottawa, every school now has a
policy to combat bullying. As well, we are lucky to have groups like
Jer's Vision, a wonderful
anti-bullying and awareness organization. One of their wonderful
people provided me with the following stats on bullying.
(Data current as of 2014 from
Prevnet- Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network)
89% of teachers say violence
and bullying is a serious problem in schools, and list it as their
top concern out of six offered options
75% of high school-aged kids
say they have been affected by bullying
71% of teachers say they
have intervened in bullying incidents, but only 25% of students say
that teachers have intervened
The victim's peers are
present in 90% of bullying cases. Studies show that when peers or
bystanders step in, the bullying stops within 10 seconds.
1 in 5 teenagers have been
cyberbullied
Girls are victimized by
sexual harassment and emotional aggression more frequently than boys
Girls tend to begin using
social forms of bullying at earlier ages than boys (9-10 years old
on average)
Physical bullying declines
with age, and verbal, social, and cyber bullying tend to increase
between the ages of 11 and 15
These stats may be a little
depressing, but the lady who provided them also told me this lovely
story and I think it's a great counterpoint. “A few years ago, I
interviewed a lot of young people to write a show called "The
Bullying Monologues". One young lady told me she experienced
horrible bullying because her family was poor-- kids would spit on
her, throw snowballs with rocks in them, etc. She was close to ending
her life, when her family acquired a computer for the first time.
Since she loved comics books and fantasy, she was finally able to
connect with fellow geeks, and realized she was not alone. It gave
her hope and helped her through the tough time. She credited geek
culture with helping her mental health.”
Here's how I want to finish this
post – a little girl at the 2013 Denver Comic-con asked Wil Wheaton
how he used to deal with being called a nerd when he was a kid – his response is perfect.
Lee A. Farruga is known as everyone's Geeky Godmother. She has many talents, lots of energy, and loves to help people achieve their goals, whatever that might be. She can also be found reviewing books, games, movies and more at geekygodmother.ca. Also known internationally as the Canadian Queen of Steampunk, Lee created and manages Steampunk Canada. When she finds spare time, Lee does background acting for television and movies, and enjoys geeky activities with family and friends.
Courtney Lockhart lives in the west end of Ottawa with her husband and step-cat. She is polishing her skills to pursue one of her dream careers as either a costume drama character, Torchwood operative or executive assistant to a billionaire vigilante. You can follow her daily mission to DFTBA on Twitter @corastacy.
