NCJ Number
219139
Date Published
2006
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Based on interviews with students at a British secondary school, this study examined gender-related bullying techniques.
Abstract
The interviews confirmed that bullying was a problem at the school, and it was in three forms: male on male, female on female, and mixed. The dominant from of bullying was the mixed variety. The boys had higher rates of victimization than the girls; and male victims often used self-denial and normalization (acceptance of bullying as a normal part of school life) techniques as a means of coping with the bullying. Male on male victimization occurred daily and had a profound effect on its victims. Both verbal and physical bullying was experienced by boy victims. Female on female bullying was verbal and typically involved excluding victims from peer social groups. The dominant style of bullying technique was mixed, i.e., boys and girls would unite in victimizing selected victims, who could be girls or boys, mixed bullying typically involved public humiliation of victims. The author argues that girls were active participants in bullying and also observed the code of silence in terms of not cooperating in any school investigations of bullying incidents. In this sense, their behavior paralleled that of the boys involved in bullying incidents. Future research on bullying should examine the dynamics of peer groups of both the same and mixed gender in order to determine how these dynamics affect the bullying behaviors of those in various types of peer groups. This report on the study presents transcripts of questions and answers from interviews with both male and female bullies and bullying victims. 20 references