Stand Up to Bullying

I wrote a recently and, in a horrible irony, the son of a close friend of mine was victim to a bully that week. He and a friend were teased at recess and the bully called them lesbians. I was incensed at the incident and can’t wait to hear how the school is going to deal with it.

Bullying is a huge issue. This year 13 million American children will be bullied at school, online, at home, on the bus, on the street or via cell phone. Bullying crosses all socioeconomic groups and happens in all .

The epidemic has been getting a lot of media attention lately with the soon-to-be released movie “Bully.” It is a no holds barred documentary about five children and their families and how bullying has impacted their lives. Here's the trailer.

There is graphic footage of children being bullied and heartbreaking interviews with parents whose children committed suicide after being bullied. To present a balanced look at the subject, the documentary also includes interviews with teachers and administrators about how their schools handle bullying.

The film-makers’ target audience is middle and high school kids, but many of them will not get the chance to see the movie because the Motion Picture Association of America has given the movie an R rating, not because of the violence, but because of profanity. The “f” word is used six times.  

I can only assume the people behind the rating are out of touch with teenagers. If teens themselves don’t use profanity, they certainly hear it in the hallways at school or on the bus. So what are they trying to protect them from?

Clearly bullying is a huge problem and we all need to be doing more to prevent it. I was bullied as a kid and I know lots of other people that were. It’s an age old problem and taking the “kids will be kids” mentality is doing all children a huge disservice. It’s time to encourage victims to speak up and for silent witnesses to take a stand and speak up also.