Girls are mean!

From a young age I was told at every opportunity that girls are mean, and on many levels this is a very true statement.  Growing up I never went to a school for more that 2 years, this made making friends difficult at times.  Being the new kid I was often the target of very mean and hurtful rumors and comments.  At one school in the 6th grade, in the course of a day I went from being the new kid that everybody liked and wanted to help show around, to a slut of the worst kind.  

Bullying is not an easy thing to deal with but its even harder when you don't know what form it will come in.  Bullying is nothing new and we have been dealing with it as a culture since the beginning, the invention of the Internet has both helped and hurt the efforts to shut down bullying.  On one hand bullies also know how to use the Internet as well if not better than most parents, which is where the problem of cyber bullying comes in.  On the other hand there are now support pages and pages with types on how to sight and prevent bullying.

On one bullying support page says that "Recent bullying statistics admit that half of all bullying incidents go unreported." Which in my experience is true, I never told anybody that I was being picked on at all, I just learned to deal with it myself.  Not everyone has the same view of the world as me, and not everyone lives with the knowledge that in 2 years they will probably be going to a different school.  This leaves bully deception up to parents and teachers.  I believe that this is the only way to stop bullying.  Some kids are going to be to scared to come forward and a lot of times those are the kids hurt worse.  Bully prevention needs to be a community project, and the symptoms of bullying need to be watched for and action must happen when they are seen.  I think if bullies were more afraid of being caught and of the punishments than maybe it would help prevent it more.  Kids can't deal with bullying on their own and with their innate trust of the adults around them could benefit from being watched a little more closely.