The Bully Society: School Shootings and the Crisis of Bullying in America's Schools

Submitted by Mastodon on Mon, 2012-11-26 20:05

Article here. Excerpt:

'Masculinity is at the forefront of bullying in schools. Hypermasculinity and flamboyant heterosexuality are markers of masculinity that contribute to bullying. Boys should exhibit a tough, aggressive and violent masculinity that is based on heterosexuality. Boys who are considered nerdy, weak, or who do not live up to these standards of masculinity are often called gay or faggot and are assumed to be less masculine than those who exhibit traditional masculine behavior. The school climate is therefore built on a acceptance of hypermasculinity, and as Klein notes, school shooters often fail to live up to the standards of masculinity, choosing instead to respond to the bullying and failed masculinity in a violent last attempt to assert their power and questioned masculinity.

Inherent in the acceptance of hypermasculinity is also violence against girls. Klein notes that various forms of violence against girls (such as teasing, harassment and sexual assault) is very common in schools, and is a common denominator for many school shooters who were violent towards girls. Many shooters shot or killed former girlfriends, girls that rejected them, or girls whom they felt they needed to protect. Another component of the bully culture, and another common denominator among the school shooters, is gay bashing. No matter the shooters sexual orientation, they were often teased and called gay or faggot in school. As status is considered everything in high school, being gay bashed equals a loss of status and is also considered the worst type of harassment for boys. The acceptance of hypermasculinity and masculine ideals has also spread to girls, who are becoming increasingly violent. As hypermasculinity is deemed the opposite of femininity, girls need to display both feminine and masculine characteristics. With the spread of social networking sites, text messaging, and other forms of technological advances enabling communication between people, cyber-bulling has become another tool used by bullies and is often used as primary sites for gay and slut bashing. Especially since laws concerning cyber-bullying have not proved useful in curbing bullying online.'

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Comments

Run schools just like max. security prisons. Never let the prisoners (ie, students) go unsupervised, not one of them, for a moment. Use guards, not "school aides" to help "manage" the kids. Beat them senseless, just like prisoners, when they act up.

What, too radical an idea for you? OK, I understand. Truth is, I was just kidding. Well, sort of.

How about this: single-sex schools. Now, I know that's radical, and I have said before I do not personally support the idea, as "single sex" by and large is not how people live in society. "Single sex" schools are in fact gender segregation, just as bad overall as race segregation: setting people apart from one another because of their indelible characteristics. But I am just throwing things out there. I mean really, if you want the problem solved, you have to *do* something.

OK, this: Make the bullies more "mature" maybe? Get them to see the error of their ways? Teach them to stop being bullies? Good luck. OK, maybe just find out who the bullies are by observing the behavior of students via hidden cameras, then pick the little bastards out of class one day and send them to a "special school" where they can be "supervised" by guards/"teacher aides" who will, as I said above, beat the crap out of them if they get out of line. Same idea as my first, but just for the bullies.

Wait, too expensive, you say? Lawsuits from parents, too? Hmm, I see your point.

OK, how about this: done. No more f*cking schools. Close 'em all down.

Or better yet, have schools, but they're virtual, like everything else. If entire college degrees can be earned on-line, why the hell not high school diplomas? Get rid of friggin' bricks and mortar schools and 99% of your problems go away just like that.

As for what to do with all those kids at home during the day, dunno. That's the damn parents' problem, not the state's. Apparently their problem is those God-awful boys.

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Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2012-11-27 02:18

Hennie Weiss has a Master's degree in Sociology from California State University, Sacramento. Her academic interests include women's studies, gender, sexuality and feminism.

Not even a bloody psychologist. What on earth would this individual know about violence or abuse outside what her political dogma tells her.

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Submitted by gwallan on Tue, 2012-11-27 04:13