Website Draws Attention To Cyber-Bullying
Sunday, 03 May 2009 08:40
Laura Thompson
THE GUELPH MURCERY STAFF
Katie Neu doesn't think she's like other 15-year-olds. She wears an arm brace to keep her wrist in place. It's an injury she says was aggravated by a bully.
"I have been bullied since the first day of kindergarten," she said yesterday.
But being picked on doesn't stop when school is out. Neu said she also receives e-mails discouraging her from talking about these experiences.
That's another way she's different from other teens her age -- she isn't afraid to speak up about being bullied.
The Listowel girl teamed up with Kitchener native Rob Frenette, who now lives in Bathurst, N.B., to create a website to bring some attention to the issue.
Bullyingkidsspeakup.ca claims to be the first website created by young people as a forum for others like them to talk about bullying.
"I was bullied for about 11 years or so," 17-year-old Frenette recalls. "By Grade 9, I thought, 'Something has to change.' " Now he's worried that bullying is gaining momentum on the Internet.
Once an e-mail was sent to 900 students at his school. The message made fun of the fact Frenette has cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder.
Nasty e-mails are just one way kids pick on other kids in what's referred to as cyber-bullying.
Other forms include harassment over chats, defamatory websites and posting negative remarks, images or videos on social-networking websites or video-sharing websites like Facebook or YouTube. Derogatory text messages sent using cellphones are also considered cyber-bullying.
Karl Hennig, a psychologist who researches aggression at the University of Guelph, said cyber-bullying is a burgeoning area of research, as it's a variation of the type happening in schoolyards. "The traditional picture of a bully is a big kid who's picking on the little kid," he said. "Anyone can cyber-bully. In only about a third of the incidents does the victim know who the bully is."
Bullies can stay anonymous by using pseudonyms or creating fake e-mail addresses. Often cyber-bullying takes place outside of school on home computers, Hennig said.
Guelph Police Sergeant Cate Welsh said in many cases the victims of this type of bullying don't want to tell their parents out of fear they'll lose their computer privileges.
"When you bully someone on a computer, it's easy to do because you're not present," she said.
Anonymity also makes it harder to investigate. Guelph Police has explored a few cases of cyber-bullying, but no charges have been laid directly, Welsh said.
Maggie McFadzen, a spokesperson for the Upper Grand District School Board, said the board has written a draft bullying prevention policy, which should be in place for the fall.
She said no specific issues of cyber-bullying have been brought to the attention of the board, which also doesn't block websites in its schools.
In Toronto, public schools block websites with pornographic content, but allow social-networking websites or online video-sharing websites, which have recently surged in popularity, including as a forum for bullying.
Don Drone, education director for the Wellington Catholic District School Board, said Catholic schools in the area don't block website content either, though students are obliged to sign an acceptable use policy that outlines what online activity is permissible at school.
"It's virtually impossible to filter out every website," he said, explaining cyber-bullying "hasn't, at this point, been a huge issue for us." The Catholic school board has partnered with Hennig to conduct some research into bullying, which will likely start this fall.
Ontario teachers will soon receive training in how to deal with bullying after the province announced $4.5 million for the initiative last month. Guelph-Wellington MPP Liz Sandals, who led the provincial Safe Schools Action Team, said the training is essential because teachers aren't necessarily aware of the forms bullying takes.
"Unless there's a culture in the school of doing something about bullying, the kids don't tell," she said.
Instead, some victims of bullying contact the Kids Help Phone or flock to its website (kidshelpphone.ca), where they can anonymously submit questions for counsellors to answer.
A recent survey conducted by the website found 75 per cent of roughly 2,300 participants said they'd been called names online. And 50 per cent of that same group said they'd had rumours spread about them online, said Donna Hansplant, vice-president of counselling services for the help line.
"This has become just another mechanism (for bullying)," she said.
lthompson@guelphmercury.com
VICTIMS OF BULLYING SPEAK OUT
The Kids Help Phone website, kidshelpphone.ca, offers a forum for bullied kids to anonymously share their experiences and ask questions of counsellors. Here's some of what bullied kids across the country are saying:
"Someone on MSN Messenger called me a penguin a**, and then I was thinking of telling someone about it, because some of my old friends from my old school said to tell on them, but then students at this new school are saying not to, because it would give me a bad reputation. What should I do?"
"Last year I was bullied by the older students (Grade 7s and 8s) when I was only in Grade 3. They would push me, give me wedgies, and sometimes ripped my clothes. I never told anyone because they could have told a teacher or the principal and then the bullies would get into trouble and beat me up even more."
"One day he asked me to take some pictures. I couldn't see any harm in doing that. So I did. That was the worst mistake I ever did. He asked me again yesterday to take some more 'revealing' ones. I said no. I realized what I was doing was wrong. He then said, 'What if your whole school knew what you were doing. And saw all the things we talked about and seen the pictures you sent me.' I'm now petrified."
Source: Kids Help Phone
Story Reprinted With Permission.
