Cyberbullying may result from family or societal biases, beliefs, and distortions being unconsciously absorbed by children,then passed on to kids of color. But, there are other reasons than racism and ethnocentrism that explain the high rate of cyberbullying directed at kids of color.
Janarooheart shares some ideas here:
Cyberbully victim? Caribbean360
Bullies hardly can explain their aggression towards victims. Go ask them why they bully and you probably will not receive a consistent answer. ‘Because he or she is black/Asian/too smart/not smart enough/overweight…’ is not actually a reason. It’s a simple statement of a fact or an expression of someone’s subjective viewpoint, that does not have to match the reality.
Evolutionary means of survival.
This aggression against the different other is understandable in reference to an evolutionary mechanism aimed to protect a tribe from an intruder. Although much time has passed, many people psychologically remained at the primitive man’s level, so they behave accordingly. Modern technologies just gave them new weapons, abusing their victims via smartphones, computers and tablets.
There are, of course, several other reasons for bullying, which don’t really differ from the first one, at the core.
- Some kids bully because they believe that offense is the best defense. They are actually afraid to become victims themselves, or they have already become victims and need to take their anger out on somebody.
- Some popular kids bully, struggling not to lose their status, and in order to maintain it. They need to constantly make performances to entertain their audience. Obviously, they choose the most vulnerable victims.
- There are also kids who wouldn’t start bullying, but influenced by their peers and afraid to swim against the current, also participate in producing and spreading abusive content. Unfortunately, such type of bullying—cyberbullying—results in real consequences despite its virtual nature.
How often do kids of color get bullied, and why?
What is the perfect environment for cyber bullies? Social media platforms, of course. According to the AntiDefamation League, abusive comments on social media usually relate to a kid’s
- appearance/body size (72 percent)
- race/ethnicity (26 percent)
- religion (26 percent) and
- sexual orientation (22 percent).
Cyberbullying?
What’s so special about race and ethnicity factor? The point is, you can be both Asian and overweight, both black and too tall and so on. In such a case, your race can be that trigger for bullying.However, since channels of cyberbullying are not limited to social media and include text messages, chats and other communication tools, general statistics on bullying is more relevant if we want to get a full picture. It shows that race/ethnicity is the second most common reason of bullying, along with looks and body shape (30.3 percent compared to 50.9 percent).
Because of that, it looks like a kid of color is at a higher risk by default. If he or she has an appearance or body shape that happens to not satisfy somebody’s taste, it will be more likely noticed and linked to your race/ethnicity without any logic. The same implies to other personal characteristics. For example, if there are two kids in a class whose grades are low, and one of them is white and the second one is black, the latter is more likely to be bullied.
Moreover, race and ethnicity could be a part of what parents of a white bully prefer to make jokes, or complain about, at the family dinner. And when such parents watch TV and find out that a man or a women of color commits a crime, who is to be blamed? Not only that particular criminal, but also every representative of his/her race or ethnicity.
That is not how things go when a white commits a crime—they don’t blame themselves for the ride. These biases, beliefs and distortions circulating within a family can be absorbed by children, then unconsciously retranslated at school, on kids of color.
So, that’s the reality—kids of color are cyber bullied more often than their white peers.”
Go here for tips for how to prevent cyberbullying based on race and ethnicity.
What’s been your personal experience with cyberbullying or plain old-fashioned bullying? I explain my experiences being bullied in my memoir Cleft Heart: Chasing Normal.
Good article. I don’t think race matters. everyone no matter race or color can be a cyberbully. every parent needs to understand what cyberbullying is and what to do if they find their child is cyberbully or cyberbullied.
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Thanks for you comments. I agree that cyberbullying impacts all races and colors, but some studies show it’s more a problem for black kids.
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