The Old School Lunch

On Global TV National, a Canadian station, there was a news special report on bullying in schools. It was an interesting piece by a young woman who was interviewed years ago because she was bullied and now she was going back to her school and seeing if the laws put into effect to make bullying illegal and the press attention has made any difference. She went back to her school and found a girl just like her and it was one of the most depressing things i’ve seen in a while.

But the thing that really pissed the shit out of me was the way that the report–by this woman who I don’t think is a professional reporter–(and bullying reporting and conversations in general) fail to distinguish between bullying and sexual harassment and sexual assault in schools. Let me say that again: there is a huge fucking difference between a kid of one gender bullying another kid of the same gender for being overweight, for being a “nerd” and a boy constantly grabbing a girl’s ass at school, lifting up her skirt and calling her a “whore” (all of which happened to this girl. When she told her teacher, principle, everyone said “boys will be boys”). These should never ever be seen as the same thing. Doing any of the latter is not “bullying” or some shit. It’s sexual harassment and sexual assault, plain and simple. When your school and law enforcement fails do to anything when that happens and reacts to it as “bullying” what does that tell young women today? It tells them that the place they’re supposed to feel safe in, the place where they’re supposed to go to learn and socialize is also a place where their bodies are no longer theirs. It also teaches girls and women that this is what they should expect if school is any representation of society and teachers and principals or any examples of leadership and discipline. What the fuck.