Girls' Perception of Cyberbullying in London and Strategies to Reduce Its Effects

Background

It was last year when I heard about a case that really troubled me. It was about a 14- year-old girl who had been bullied by her peers online and via texting. The bullying got to the point where she was encouraged to kill herself. This girl did not speak about the harassment and committed suicide after months of being bullied. It left me puzzled, and I thought: how could this have happened? How has bullying progressed to a level where a child tells someone to hang themselves? Why did this girl not askfor help? Could this have been avoided?  

. The purpose of this study was to explore how girls in London perceive cyberbullying, how cyberbullying among young people is related to the power structure in the wider society and what are some of the ways to reduce the adverse effects of cyberbullying according to young people. Therefore, the research questions were the following:

- How do girls perceive and experience cyberbullying in London?

- How is cyberbullying related to intersecting forms of oppression?

- How do girls in London handle cyberbullying and what would be a possible way to reduce cyberbullying or minimise the negative effects of it according to them?

This study aimed to explore how girls in London perceive cyberbullying, how cyberbullying among young people is related to the power structure in the wider society and what are some of the ways to reduce the adverse effects of cyberbullying according to the children. The research questions were:

- How do girls perceive and experience cyberbullying in London?

- How is cyberbullying related to intersecting forms of oppression?

- How do girls in London deal with cyberbullying and what would be a possible way to reduce cyberbullying or minimise the negative effects of it according to them?

This may be because participants felt they had to say what I, an adult, expected to hear from them, or because these adult fears became internal. Of course, it is also possible that the children were concerned about these issues themselves. However, in some cases, I picked up on signs that the children were trying to assure me that they use the Internet responsibly and safely.

Interviewer: What sort of information do you share? (online)

Participant 6: Pictures and things...but all my accounts are private. I never post anything publicly.

This was especially visible with the younger girls (13-14 years old) who felt that they needed to highlight that they did not talk to strangers online. Interviewer: Whom do you communicate with? (online)

Research Questions

Participant 1: My friends from school and cousins in Hungary. I don’t talk to strangers online or anyone else.

Participant 2: Six people from school. They are all close friends. I never talk to people I don’t know. I never do that.

All of my participants were familiar with the term cyberbullying and had a concrete idea of what it meant. All agreed that it is something that happens online and it is a form of bullying. They also suggested that for something to be termed as ’bullying’, there has to be a clear aim to hurt someone. The most common adjective used in relation to cyberbullying was "mean".

Interviewer: How would you define it? (cyberbullying)

Participant 4: Someone being mean to someone through the Internet or social media.

Most also mentioned in some ways, that cyberbullying has a repetitive nature. Participant 6: It’s when someone is constantly mean to you. Harassing someone over the Internet.

Participant 1: When someone says something mean and it is on more than one occasion. It is targeting someone online and bringing someone down both mentally and emotionally.

Participant 3: It's something that happens online. When someone always criticises her online and gives her bad thoughts. It's making someone feel bad.

Participant 7: Bullying online. When you can’t stop telling bad things to people. You know it is going to hurt someone, but you keep going.

All participants agreed that girls are more likely to be targets of cyberbullying. Many suggested that this is because girls are more sensitive, while one of them also described them as “weak”.

Interviewer: Are you suggesting that girls get bullied more?

Interviewer: Why is that?

Participant 2: Because girls are weak. Girls are more emotional. When boys get criticised, they can just brush it off, but girls take it to heart.

Participant 6: Men are higher in the hierarchy. They are always at the top and have more power than women. Many of the girls also pointed out the double-standards between boys and girls.

Interviewer: Are there any issues specific to girls?

Participant 7: Yes, some people would try to destroy your reputation. Girls are an easy target, and they get hurt more.

Interviewer: Why?

Participant 7: Because there is inequality. For example, if a girl has sex a lot, everyone will say she is a slut. But if it's a boy, he is seen as a superhero. For boys, this is a positive thing.

Two of the participants find that, besides gender, other qualities tend to trigger online aggression from others. One of my participants mentioned religion and skin colour as a reason to be targeted. She suggested in the padlet that a form of cyberbullying is when "people commenting rude things because of the colour of someone's skin or religion and making fun of it." She was also referring to how "wearing a hijab" can make you a target of cyberbullying during the interview. Another participant - who belonged to a minority group - mentioned homophobia and racism as a motivation for cyberbullying.

Participant 6: People who are different can get bullied because of that. People can get bullied because of their sex or because they are LGBTQ…

Interviewer: So sexual orientation can be a reason why someone gets bullied?

Participant 6: Yes. Also, because of the colour of their skin.

Interviewer: So are you saying it’s not about having a personal disagreement between individuals?

Participant 6: Yes, it’s not about the individual.

Interviewer: And that should be addressed when they ask for support?

Participant 6: Yes, you can’t tell them that it’s personal, because there is more to that