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My name is Zöe and I’m fifteen. I was first bullied when I was four. A group of boys spent each lunchtime during school chasing me. This lead to strangling, punching, kicking, biting, etc. As I got older, it turned into verbal insults from a wider range of people (including but not exclusive to): “Bitch, slut, fat, psychopath, hypocrite”. It began to die down for a short period of time until a group of girls at my training took up the more physical approach again.
When I was bullied, it was hard. It was hard to control my inner anger from lashing out at people when they hit me. But I never hit back. I’d just stand still and take it. It felt like I was alone and no one else was there. Now I stand up for myself. I’ve learned that I can actually be fairly frightening to people when I use it in a mature manner. I think that online bullying can be worse than real life bullying, but at the same time it isn’t. I personally suffered from people telling me to kill myself online. Now, some people could never handle that. But the key is to know it is just a computer warrior or troll trying to knock you down. And at the end of the day, is it worth dealing with cruel words people could only ever say because of the safety of the screen?
I think that some people bully because they think they are better than you and it’s some sort of way of proving it. Or that they are jealous or have nothing else to waste their time with. I feel sorry for bullies but I ignore them all the same. If you’re getting bullied, stand up for yourself. Tell a friend so they can be there for you. And make sure to approach it all calmly. Don’t cry in front of them or show you are weak; that never does any good. I wish all other people that are getting bullied luck and I hope things improve.
Kristina, a moderator on VP, shares her story:
My name is Kristina and I’m 18 years old. I was bullied when I was 12-13. People would call me randomly ugly and they’d make fun of me having glasses. They’d randomly laugh every time I passed by while I’d just walk faster. I remember this one time, when I got my current job (I got it around the age of 14) and these guys would visit the store and just stand in the corner laughing really loud because they saw it as a joke, how could anyone as stupid/ugly whatever as me get a job? They just stood there and like I was really hurt by it. And people would also bully me saying I was gay because I was so shy and silent; I never really talked to guys because inside my thoughts were: “lol, you might as well not even try why would anyone talk to you” and “you’re out of his league” and “why even bother”. People would randomly say out loud: “lol you totally checked out that girls’ ass hahahahahah!” and I’d say no but I didn’t really have anything saying otherwise because I seemed like I had absolutely no interest in boys.
I felt like a failure for years and that’s why I didn’t drink/smoke/anything before the age of 16, because I basically lost my “teen-age” because of the constant thoughts of not being good enough, constant fear of being bullied and yeah it was hard. I don’t get bullied anymore. I’ve grown a lot and now I couldn’t care less what people think about me. I don’t know how I overcame bullying. The whole thing just kind of stopped in 9th grade, probably because people grew up.
I never talked to anyone about my bullying and I still haven’t like really deeply gone talking to someone. I’ve just generally talked about being bullied but it doesn’t really bother me anymore. I think I got over it by myself and i grew up. Yeah a shrink would possibly have helped, but I was too damaged to ask for help. I couldn’t tell my parents or anyone how I felt and I never really admitted my problems. I think people bully because they are insecure. I don’t think that online bullying is worse than real life bullying. People can’t see you. It hurts, true, but it doesn’t go as deep down as the irl bullying. You’ll have to face the people who bully in real life while you can log off here and they can’t see you cry. You’ll have to put on a fake expression and carry on while online you can cry irl if you want to. And people online don’t even know you personally or know how you look like while in real life you are already exposed. I don’t treat bullies differently. I go against them if they’re bullying and being like “wtf dude pull yourself together”, but other than that I don’t see them differently.
If you’re being bullied, TALK TO SOMEONE. ADMIT YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. All of the above; I NEVER saw myself as being bullied. I never admitted to being bullied. I don’t know what I classified it as but I was defintely not bullied. And if I was; people who actually got out with or talked to a shrink got bullied so much worse than me, so I wasn’t really bullied enough to be worth a shrink’s time. So: G-O T-A-L-K T-O S-O-M-E-O-N-E and just hang in there. I can assure you it gets better, Life’ll always be tough but the bullying will eventually stop. 
Dyspathyx shares her story about being bullied at a young age:
My name is Claire. I’m sixteen years old and I was first bullied around the age of three. I have been bullied both physically and mentally. When I was bullied, I felt like there was no escape and that it would never end. I kind of felt like it was my fault and that I was the one doing something wrong. I now know that is not true. I fortunately don’t get bullied anymore. I overcame bullies by joining a club! When I was younger, I was unbelievably shy and timid and I would cry at everything, literally. So, my mum got me into scouts, which has become one of my favorite things in the world. It helped my confidence and my self-esteem loads, which in turn helped me learn to stand up for myself. I also spoke to teachers and such, which helped.
I think both online bullying and in real life bullying are equally as bad. Any type of bullying is serious and no one should be put through it. I think that people bully because they are jealous, unhappy with themselves, or they have emotional pain. I believe there are many reasons why people bully -- but those reasons don’t make it acceptable. I prefer not to interact with bullies. I’m not nasty to them though. I’ll be civil. I won’t just stand by and let someone be bullied if I see it happening.
If you’re being bullied, keep strong. It’s them that have the problem, not you. It really does get better. It may take time, but there are people out there for you. Just never give up. It hurts the bullies more to see you happy, so show them you are the bigger person by rising above it. People are here to talk to you if you need it, including me. I’ve received death threats, become anorexic, and even thought about suicide because of bullying. But I got through, with the help from loved ones and friends. Find something that you enjoy and get stuck into that, it can be your escape in a way, like scouts for me. You ARE better than them.
My name is Daria. I’m 14 and in a few days I’ll be fifteen. I can’t remember the first time that I got bullied very well, because it was a long time ago. But I can remember the first time someone said something to me that I felt like offended me was probably in third grade, so I was 8 or 9. I didn’t know what bullying was then. I didn’t think it was wrong or anything like that, I thought it was normal to get teased. Mostly people called me different names. Also i remember when I was younger in 3rd grade this guy started to kick me and punch me but I just tried to ignore him. I remember one time when the same guy talked something bad about my mom, not only he bullied me, but he bullied my mom too.
I felt really stupid...I couldn’t even defend myself. I feel like I wanted to defend myself, but I couldn’t. I always wanted to talk back and answer smartly but i just couldn’t find my words. I still get bullied from time to time, but not much. They look at me like I’m a piece of trash and sometimes talk bad about me when they’re all together. When I was younger, I used to care a lot and really got mad about it and confused and always thought to myself, “What’s wrong with me?” I realized it only later. Right now I don’t really care, I ignore them because they want attention. To stop the bullying, I ignored them and tried to understand that they might have some issues or family problems, or they were too immature to understand what they were doing. I think any sort of bullying is bad. It affects you, it really does.
Online bullying can affect you just as much as real life bullying. I think people also bully because they’re trying to look tough or cool. Sometimes bullies have no education from their own parents on how to act. I absolutely dislike bullies. I won’t even waste my time talking to them, just simply ignore them. Not hurting them or verbally abusing them, just ignoring them. Many people think that only girls are getting bullied, but this isn’t true: both girls and boys are getting bullied.
I know this sounds cheesy, but just say strong, hold on to your friends and to your family. Ignore the bullies as much as you can and never waste your time talking to them because they’re not worth it. It could get worse. I hope one day bullying will stop. Nobody deserves to be treated that way. It can affect you. Seriously affect you. Even if you mean it as a joke, it can still hurt. Just don’t do it because you can. Don’t do it at all because you don’t know people’s past and what they’ve been through.
Yes, because a hot pink stop sign and some cool fonts is gonna help!
You may not believe it, but even Mother Hen has been bullied. And it hurts. Here I am to answer the same questions I asked those girls.
Yes, this is me when I was younger!
I was in the seventh grade when I first got bullied. I was never bullied physically like some of the other girls interviewed, only mentally. Seventh grade was the hardest year for me because I had a family tragedy. Boys in the grade above me were incredibly nasty and not only bullied me but slandered my parents. I was completely incapable of standing up for myself when I was vulnerable. I told my parents about it and they helped me handle it. To this day, I still think about the embarrassment I felt when I was bullied and how low I thought of myself. To this day, I still think I may not be good enough for boys and I may never be found attractive.
I don't still get bullied. Bullies are hurting on the inside and it's important to know that bullies are hurting so much that they have to take it out on someone. Usually, they are not able to vocalize to their parents or friends about how much they are hurting, so they have to take it out on you.
I think that online bullying can be worse than real life bullying. When I was fourteen, I was hit with another family tragedy and I again, for some reason, got bullied. This time, however, it was online. I got lots of death threats, even from my friends. I was unable to stand up for myself and relied on others to help me through the hard times. It's sometimes harder to deal with online bullies as you're not able to physically confront them about their actions. But just remember -- people who say things anonymously don't deserve to say things at all.
The most important thing to do, when you're getting bullied, is tell someone. Wether it be a friend, parent, or teacher, they're there to help you. And when you're being bullied, you need to stand up to the bullies. And sometimes you need all of the help you can get.
Thanks for sticking in with this long Wednesday special! Make sure to leave a comment letting me know about your experiences with bullies and how you've overcome them.
Thanks for reading, as always! See you on Sunday. I promise, my kitchen will be cleaner...
（人´∀`*）
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