Bullying is an act of suppressing or dominating others, depriving such people of their rights. Bullying does not only affect the victim mentally but also physically and socially. But why do people bully others?
Individuals vary in character and behavior; some people bully others intentionally (they are used to such a way of life that it looks like a norm to them), and some bully others out of insecurity.
In all, it is prohibited to bully others. As you further read along, we’ll discuss what bullying is, the different types of bullying, why people bully others, the signs of bullying, the effects of bullying on its victims, and how bullying can be stopped.
What Is Bullying?
Bullying does not only manifest itself physically; it can be said to be any fierce or forceful behavior portrayed by anyone (commonly schoolchildren or teenagers) that is done repeatedly with a transfer of aggression and bitterness towards its victim.
This act shows an inequality in the strength level that permits one to exercise power against the other person, which can be through threats, intimidation, exclusion, humiliation, harassment, mockery, and lots more.
Furthermore, bullying can be categorized into different forms which include physical, verbal, social, cyber, racial, and religious bullying.
Different Types Of Bullying
There are different types of bullying which include:
1. Physical Bullying
Physical bullying, as the name implies, is an act of physically assaulting or hurting someone intentionally through kicking, pinching, beating, stealing, spitting, pushing, damaging, seizure of provisions or food items, hitting, shoving, and awful hand gestures.
2. Verbal Bullying
Verbal bullying is when you make fun of someone in a painful manner through the use of insulting words, sexual harassment, taunting, mocking, slurs and threats.
3. CyberBullying
Cyberbullying is done when an individual uses emails, calls, and most especially social media to threaten another person. This type of bullying aims to create a bad image of its victims and to publicly harass and embarrass them.
4. Social Bullying
Social bullying is a common type of bullying that involves spreading false rumors about an individual to spoil their reputation, disgracing someone in public to reduce their self-worth or respect, purposely excluding someone from a group, and influencing and encouraging others to isolate an individual.
Another form of bullying is racial bullying, which involves treating others badly because of their ethnic background or race, This can be common between inter-tribal or inter-state. Religious bullies mishandle people because of their religious beliefs, which is common among inter-religious people.
Additionally, it has been noticed that bullying among school children happens during their break time, prep time, or while going home after school hours. However, when noticed, bullying should be dealt with immediately to create a safe environment for children or anyone involved and to increase their self-esteem.
Why Do People Bully others?
Why do people bully others? There are several reasons why people bully others, which include:
1. Jealousy And Envy
Why do people bully others? The first reason is jealousy and envy. They are not always content with what they have, they are envious of a certain character, skill, relationship, trait, or wealth of another person which they don’t possess. Thereby leading them to forcefully collect or seize such possession in their victims.
Jealousy can be very dangerous; it breeds a lot of foolish thoughts in the minds of people and pushes someone to act out of proportion. When you notice that you are jealous of another person, the best way to cure your jealousy is to avoid comparison.
2. Loss Of Control
People bully others when they sometimes lose control over their behavior and actions. This reason can be temporary because it may not occur when the bullies are back to their senses. Probably the bullies were trying to regain their sense of power. This instance is common among school prefects in secondary schools exercising their powers on junior students due to slight misunderstanding.
3. Emotional Trauma
Sometimes bullies experience personal trauma and the best way to ease themselves from such hurt is to intentionally demoralize others. It’s true that emotional trauma can lead to an outburst of some unexpected characters but bullying others should not be a fall back to appeal with your emotions.
4. Childhood Background
Children, especially are very observant and quick to learn; some bullies learn the behavior either from their siblings, parents, friends, peer groups, or even from the kind of movies they watch.
However, they try to replicate or practice this character on other people and it becomes a normal character to them, They have a mindset that it is not bad when people are mistreated. This kind of bullies commonly uses words like “you are not my class,” “I am above your standard,” “you are a pupper,” “I don’t mingle with poor people,” and lots more when bullying others.
5. Insecurity
Insecurity is one major reason why people bully others. Bullies are filled with fear of the unknown, thereby trying to preserve their territory by making others feel less of themselves. This is common in the social world, where people compare their social status and feel insecure about the fast growth of any person.
6. Lack Of Remorse
It was discovered that individuals who lack empathy due to developmental stage or any past trauma are at risk for engaging in bullying others, Because they lack remorse and can easily hurt others without knowing that it hurts, they never realize that they have a serious problem, thereby seeing it as a normal way of life.
7. Previous Victimization
Sadly, some bullies were victims of bullying because of the hurt it caused them. Some already vowed to bully others when they get to some certain level in life.
8. Desire To Dominate
Some individuals are possessive in nature, they desire to be in charge or in control over a territory, and these desires can breed bullying as they tend to oppress others in power and deprive them of aspiring to the same position as them.
9. Targeting Vulnerable Groups
Another reason why people bully others is that there is a targeted, vulnerable group around them. These vulnerable groups are people who may be younger, smaller, more successful, more intelligent than them, so they try to oppress them so as to balance any supposed inequality.
10. Low-Self Esteem
Due to low self-esteem, some individuals may bully others so as to feel good about themselves; they may have a sense of being insignificant among their peers and seek to feel important by causing harm to others. This is because when they cause harm to others or put others down, it temporarily increases their confidence level.
11. Financial Difficulty
When someone is constructed financially, it might trigger bullying of others, People tend to bully others out of frustration or stress they’ve gone through, and they tend to let out their wrath on others due to lack of finances to carry out their daily activities.
Signs And Effects That Indicate Your Child Is Been Bullied
Watch your child closely, if you see these signs, it may indicate that your child is being bullied
- Destroyed or lost belongings
- Unaccountable bruises or cuts
- Low-self esteem
- Social isolation
- Frequent headaches or body pain
- Difficulty in sleeping
- Recurring nightmares
- Loss of interest in school activities
- Binge-eating or skipping meals
- Loss of friends
- Increase anxiety level
- Fear
- Not defensive
- Feeling helpless
- School avoidance
- Bedwetting
- Depression.
How Can Bullying Be Stopped
To stop bully there are certain strategies to put in place, they include:
1. Education
To stop bullying you must firstly, educate or create awareness about bullying and how to recognize it. Let them know that bullying is prohibited and will not be condoned no matter the circumstances.
2. Communication
Communication is an important key to any relationship, daily ask your children questions about how they feel in school and whether or not there are inconveniences, understand their perceptions about a matter before judging them. Ask them questions about bullying and if they’ve encountered any.
3. Engagement
Engage children into activities they love and have interest in. Allow them pursue their passion; this way, they will have an increased confidence level, build friendship and be able to challenge and protect themselves against bullies.
4. Lead By Example
Practice the act of kindness to children, teach them how to treat others with respect and kindness by treating others with respect and kindness. Live a good life that they can emulate because children observe and learn fast.
5. Speak Up
Encourage your children or those around you to speak up when they are bullied by reporting to their teachers, guardians, or parents.
6. Set Rules Governing Bullying
To stop bullying in a school or society, there is a need to establish age-appropriate laws that are simply noted, easy to understand, and always enforced. However, these rules should cover various situations and be taught to students in schools.
7. Stand Up For Others
Whenever you see someone being bullied, stand up for them, intervene and help them separate from the bullies.
8. Seek Assistance
Lastly, it is important to involve the school authority or the competent authority to address bullying incidents.
Final Words
You may be suspecting that someone is experiencing bullying, instead of minding your business — engage in an open conversation and defend that person. Why do people bully others? I believe your question has been answered. For more clarity read this article over again.
