Why Has the Issue of Bullying Been Largely Ignored as a Serious Social Problem?
• Bullying is so widespread and so common that the “Rite of Passage” myth has blinded us to its extensive harm. • Because bullying involves children, it is seen as a minor issue on the horizon of adult crisis. • Since children are viewed as powerless in our society, adults are often oblivious to the insidious power structure that is part of bullying. • Western culture maintains certain unwritten codes of behavior that dictate silence, shame, guilt and blame for the victim, admiration of power, athletic prowess and privilege, and desensitization to violence. • Adults believe that kids need to “toughen up,” ignore it or fight back. • Experience tells us that the prevalence of a problem does not bring about change until concerned citizens take action. • There is a history of abuse denial in our society that has prevented us from acknowledging child, spouse, and elder abuse.
