PUBLICATION:
The Ottawa Citizen --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attaching a label to harmful behaviours or disorders -- compulsive eating, attention deficit -- can be a useful way to prevent them, if only by raising awareness. The danger is that sometimes the terms get misused and abused to the point they no longer have meaning. Consider "bullying," a word that has been much in the news lately, especially in the wake of a rather sensational case at a North York school. A 16-year-old girl has accused a group of students of serial harassment and sexual assault over the course of a year, leading some politicians and commentators to renew their calls for "anti-bullying" programs. Bullying exists, and it is a serious problem. But just as not all hurtful actions are bullying (some are just unkind), we see no reason to downgrade linguistically to "bullying" that which is alleged to have been inflicted on the North York girl. Yes, the accused are young and the incidents are said to have happened at school, but assault is assault. Criminals can be bullies, but criminal behaviour is, well, criminal behaviour -- not "bullying." There's much to be
said for common sense, and the common-sense understanding of "bullying"
is that it denotes hurtful behaviour more serious than a casual insult
or argument but still short of criminality. It is sustained intimidation,
usually of a peer. A survey by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in 2001 found that one in three Ontario students between Grades 7 and 13 admitted to having bullied someone. That sounds awfully alarming, until you realize that the questionnaire defined bullying as "when one or more people tease, hurt or upset a weaker person on purpose." This is a flawed definition: There is no reference to severity or frequency. If any form of teasing is suddenly bullying, then there's not a schoolyard in Canada where "bullying" doesn't occur on a daily basis. The Ontario government's bullying-prevention plan, developed by an "action team," calls bullying "a dynamic of unhealthy interaction" and "a form of repeated aggression used from a position of power" that "can be physical, verbal or social." That's still open to interpretation, but it is a serviceable definition. Definitions are important. Bystanders must be able to identify bullying if they are to stop it. There is power in accusatory words such as "racism," "bullying" or "harassment." If you see a parent yelling at a child, you might grimace and keep walking. But if something about the behaviour -- an accompanying slap across the face -- causes you to identify the behaviour as "abuse," you're more likely to do something about it. Students and teachers need to know what bullying is before they will feel comfortable stopping it. And to know what bullying is, it is necessary to know what bullying is not. |