Bullying and Self- Image

Bullying and self-image go hand in hand because without bullying we would not have some of the self-image issues that we have today. Bullying is a disease haunting our schools and our online communities. Bullies come in all shapes and sizes and they come with a very wide range of attitudes. Depending on the bully, they can criticize you who you are as an individual, for what you own, how you dress, and how you look (physical attributes). Bullies gain their confidence and power from other people’s weaknesses, so if you were self-conscious about your body they could make it ten times worse. For example, you are worried about gaining weight and being called fat; a bully comes up to you and calls you a name “Lardo” and then tries to shove food in your face. You feel depressed and self-conscious for the rest of the day. How will you handle it? Well, depending on the individual you have many options, (1) tell the bully to leave you alone, (2) go home take the bully’s advice and eat uncontrollably til you do get fat, or (3) shrug it off because you know that you are not fat. The second option is what most teenage girls do when a bully comes up to them with that remark. It is in a girl’s nature to not want to be fat or unattractive because it gives them the opportunity to catch the attention of boys and their peers. If a person comes up to them and calls them fat, they will feel overwhelmed as if everyone thinks the same thing and they will change how they look. Sometimes girls go to drastic measures to change their appearance by hiding under saggy clothes, staying home from school, or they will believe what the bully has said and act on that. An example of this behavior is eating disorders. Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa (starving) and bulimia (non-stop vomiting). The eating disorders mentioned are mental issues inside a female that give you the sense or belief that you are overweight and fat when you are not. The effects of eating disorders are drastic and can lead to hospitalization, therapy, and death. Victims should not be intimidated by bullies because bullies have their own insecurities and can be criticized like any other human being. But, being the bully yourself is not the answer. Some ways to handle a bully include telling an adult, telling the bully to stop, or ignoring the remark or action altogether. If you follow these tips, you will be able to stop a bully in its tracks.

Self-image is a problem which we all face through our school years. We try to differentiate what is appropriate and what is acceptable amongst our peers. We have different ideas about what defines positive and negative self-image but let’s start with the positive. The characteristics of feeling confident about your self-image is by having a positive attitude towards your daily activities, you exercise daily or when convenient, and you can look in the mirror and say that you look beautiful and walk out the door. Your body type should not affect your positive self-image nor should how you eat because the physical appearance does not matter. The only thing that should matter is how you personally feel about yourself and how you feel you look in your own eyes. Negative self-image is easy for anyone especially teenage girls to understand because in their middle school and high school years, teenage girls are more likely to criticize or complain about how they look instead of giving themselves a compliment. In the pre-teen and teenage years, girls start to go through puberty and hormonal changes. Changes such as these can make a girl feel insecure or out of place because they want to be cool and normal in their development. An example of this is when a girl starts to develop physically. The girl could look in the mirror and think she is so ugly when really she is starting to develop into a woman and start experiencing changes, such as the menstrual cycle, acne, and physical attributes. In the teenage years, girls try to adapt to these changes by wearing different clothes and experimenting with make-up; the female psychological purpose to do this is to look beautiful and accepting to their peers. If they look in the mirror and do not like what they see, they will change it within an instant because they do not feel beautiful or accepting. Girls also complain about how they look physically by saying they are too fat, they didn’t wear the right outfit, or because they feel insecure of themselves. It’s perfectly natural to feel insecure about your body because you want to have the feeling of acceptance with you all day and feel as if you accomplished something. It is healthy to call yourself beautiful and to wear clothes to build your confidence but it is not healthy to constantly cut yourself up and destroy your self-confidence when you are already beautiful. Everyone has different qualities and everyone sees beauty differently, but you can not speak negatively about it.