Shireen

(Originally posted here.)

While Amanda Todd’s suicide itself was tragic, what bothers me the most is that I’ve heard this story before. In its wake, there’s been some discussions that have started about cyber bullying, online trolls, and vigilante justice. But there’s a bigger issue here that no one’s willing to talk about: the sexual nature of the bullying this young woman experienced. The same kind of bullying that took place among other young women who have taken their own lives- Phoebe Prince, Samantha Kelly, Rachel Ehmke. The same kind of bullying that led to my friend’s suicide when she was only 16. I’ve been struggling for days, knowing that I couldn’t just sit by silently while I watched this all too familiar story unfold all over again. And I’ve realized that I need to talk about the sexualized bullying that either no one notices, or no one has done anything to stop. It’s the kind of bullying that nearly cost me my life.

We’ve heard a lot about the bullying and suicide of a horrific number of male students who were bullied about being gay (regardless of their sexual orientation), and the It Gets Better project did a wonderful job of drawing attention to the issue. But what I’m talking about is a little bit different. It’s the kind of bullying that girls do to other girls. Sexualized bullying is when there’s something about the bullied- the (sexual) attention and interest that she ...