#13

Regina Moore

‘Just Kidding’ and ‘Ganging Up’ from Odd Girl Out by Rachel Simmons

I have been both bullied and been a bully myself. I feel that bullying is something that cannot be defined because everything is on a case-by-case basis. There are issues of people making jokes about one another that I feel can be deemed as harmless, on the contrary many adolescents experience intense abuse from there peers that can cause detrimental harm to their psyche. I have had numerous remarks directed towards me that could be classified as bullying, I constantly hear that I am too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short, or I don’t wear the right clothes…When I hear the remarks I shrug them off because I have the self confidence to not have to care about the opinions of others, but many people do not obtain this same ability and I do not expect everyone to act in that way because everybody is different. I think that bullying becomes the worst when a person applies all the negative things that others tell he or she that they are to their own thinking. When harsh comments and rude remarks affect how you think about yourself there is a definite problem. I have been on both sides of the bullying issue and I can say that when I bully others I do not even realize that I am bullying. Sometimes when I am in a bad mood I put that onto other people and I may be rude or disrespectful towards them but it is never out of malicious intent. I am the type of person that says what I feel and I understand that sometimes my opinions can be hurtful towards others. There are definitely situations where I reflect upon them and wish that I would have though about the affect that my words have before I spoke on something. Bullying has never been an issue that has been important to me because I speak up for myself and I do not tolerate disrespect from anyone.