Effects of Gender Related Bullying and Harassment

One of the harsh realities of life in the United States is the potential for bullying behaviors to adversely affect the learning environment for young victims, transforming the school environment from a place of learning into one that is dreaded and feared. Moreover, bullying behaviors can have a profound effect on the manner in which young people are socialized concerning gender roles as well as their perspectives concerning equity later in life. To determine the facts about these issues, this paper provides a review of the literature to develop a discussion concerning the issues of bullying and conflict in relation to learning about gender and other forms of equity and the implications these have for students and teachers. Finally, following this discussion, a summary of the research and important findings concerning these issues are presented in the conclusion.

In a school context, bullying is defined by Isernhagen and Harris (2009) as being any type of instance in which "a student is exposed repeatedly to negative actions by one or more other students" (p. 5). In response to the growing recognition of the problem, there has been an ongoing nationwide campaign and more aggressive zero-tolerance policies implemented by school districts across the country that are aimed at reducing the incidence of bullying in the schools. To date, however, these strategies have largely failed to address the antecedents to the problem head-on (Fuller & Gulbrandson, 2013). In this regard, Meyer (2008) emphasizes that, "Many schools have been trying to combat violence and harassing behaviors by implementing blanket bullying policies that do little to address the underlying issues of the school climate and culture that allow these behaviors to persist" (p. 35).

Unfortunately, the problem may be far more severe than estimates suggest. Notwithstanding zero-tolerance and other anti-bullying policies that have been implemented in recent years, current estimates indicate that about 15% of all students are still being bullied or engaging in bullying behaviors (Isernhagen & Harris, 2009) while other estimates place the incidence far higher. Indeed, research has shown that fully 80% of middle school students in the U.S. report initiating direct bullying incidents at least once a month (Isernhagen & Harris, 2009). According to Isernhagen and Harris (2009), direct bullying involves "hitting, taunting, threatening, teasing, stealing, excluding, or spreading rumors," behaviors that are most commonplace during the elementary and middle school years and then tapering off somewhat when students enter high school (p. 6). Nevertheless, a growing body of evidence indicates that bullying behaviors continue well into the high school years and even into the adult workplace in some cases. In fact, bullying is virtually universal throughout American society and the practice is socially ingrained in the national consciousness (Gilbert & Raffo, 2013). As Kirby (2001) points out, "You can't grow up without encountering a bully. It's not a stretch to suggest that our culture is built, in part, on a culture of bullying, It's in the school yard, on the playing field, and in the workplace" (p. 30).

When bullying behaviors are gender-related, the problem becomes even more complex and potentially harmful to victims. For instance, Popp and Peguero (2014) report that, "School bullying has detrimental consequences for its victims, including undermining students' educational outcomes. Furthermore, gender has been shown to play a significant role in determining the type of bullying victimization experienced and educational outcomes" (p. 843). The results of a study by Meyer (2008) indicate that gender-related bullying can be sufficiently insidious to avoid detection by teachers and administrators but which can have an enormous negative impact on those targeted, including diminished academic performance, increased absenteeism, substance abuse problems, depression and even suicidal behaviors. Gendered harassment is defined by Meyer (2008) as being "any behavior that acts to assert the boundaries of traditional gender norms: heterosexual masculinity and femininity"; these behaviors can include "(hetero)sexual harassment, homophobic harassment, and harassment for gender non-conformity (or transphobic harassment)" (p. 34). Although gendered harassment is similar to bullying, it assumes some different forms, but these may subsume some types of bullying behaviors including violence (Meyer, 2008). Moreover, the negative effects of gender-related bullying can even be more severe than other types of bullying behaviors As Meyer concludes, "Students who are targets of sexual and homophobic harassment have been identified as being at even greater risk for these harmful behaviors and leaving school" (p. 34).

While many victims of gender-related bullying may opt to simply leave school altogether or pursue an alternative homeschooled curriculum, others may elect to take more drastic actions to resolve the conflict by either killing their tormentors or taking their own lives, and both of these types of undesirable outcomes have become increasingly frequent in recent years. In the majority of cases, however, it is reasonable to posit the victims of gender-related bullying and harassment simply "suffer in silence" (due in large part to the unwritten but ubiquitous "schoolyard code" that prohibits "snitching") until they can graduate and escape their tormentors. In fact, nearly two-thirds (64%) of American students who are victims of bullying do not report the incidents (Petrosina, Guckenburg, DeVoe, & Hanson, 2010). A study of the specific characteristics of bullying victimization that have been shown to prompt higher levels of reporting among bullying victims include incidents that involved physical injuries, the destruction of property, actual physical contact (e.g., shoving or pushing), higher frequency levels of bullying, bullying occurring in more than one location, and, interestingly, at least one bullying incident occurring on a school bus (Petrosina, 2010).

As noted above, gender-related bullying may assume some forms that are difficult to detect but in many cases they are simply ignored by educators despite the demonstrated negative effects these behaviors can have on their victims (Meyer, 2008). In fact, in some cases, sustained harassment in the form of verbal abuse can have the same adverse impact as less frequent physically violent attacks (Meyer, 2008). Despite the clear need for better strategies, many of the policies implemented by schools in recent years have failed to take these types of abusive behaviors into account. In this regard, Meyer (2008) points out that, "Bullying and zero-tolerance policies do not consider the cultural and societal antecedents of violence in schools. Neither do these programs consider psychological violence" (p. 34).

It is also important to note that gender-related bullying by males (the primary perpetrators) is not limited to females but can rather include virtually any student who does not appear to conform to traditionally accepted American gender roles. For example, Fetner and Elafros (2012) note that, "Schools can be sites of bullying and abuse for lesbian and gay youth, or for anyone who does not closely conform to traditional gender roles" (p. 189). Despite some modest progress in addressing this type of gender-related bullying in recent years, due in large part to the changing social views of the American mainstream public, the problem remains nearly as commonplace as other types of bullying (Fetner & Elafros, 2012).

Although precise figures are not available, recent surveys of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) American students indicate that almost two-thirds (61%) report feeling unsafe in their schools, nearly three-quarters (72%) report being the targets of derogatory comments, a staggering 85% report being the targets of verbal assaults and two out of every five LGBT students reports being the victim of physical harassment based solely on their sexual orientation and these rates are even higher for minority LGBT students (Fetner & Elafros, 2012). The antecedents of these types of gender-related bullying and harassment, of course, include the manner in which young people are socialized in the United States concerning acceptable gender roles, or what in essence it means to be "a boy" or "a girl." Some salient examples of this type of socialization include blue colors for boys and pink colors for girls, "action figures" for boys and dolls for girls, and so forth.

Therefore, to the extent that the socialization process draws on traditional gender roles will likely be the extent to which gender-related bullying occurs based on deviations from these norms. This point is also made by Gilbert and Raffo (2013) who report, "Girls, for example, are taught that displaying competence, aptitude, or ambition may have negative overtones. Consequently, when expectations of 'feminine' behavior are thwarted, they may suffer consequences, even from their own gender" (p. 79). Somewhat paradoxically, some young people may engage in gender-related bullying in an attempt to "fit in" with others irrespective of their own sexual orientation. For instance, Kirby (2001) notes that, "Few reports have examined how society's fixed notion of gender roles may determine more than who is being bullied. It may prompt gay, lesbian, or sexually confused youth who are determined to conform to those ideals to become bullies themselves" (p. 30).

Moreover, educators may actually encourage or at least facilitate gender-related bullying and harassment by failing to recognize them when they occur in their classrooms, and through the types of classroom activities they incorporate into their curricular offerings. As Fuller and Gulbrandson (2013) point out, "There are two components of bullying that are evident in nearly all school settings: Teachers are often unaware that bullying is occurring, and activity choices can encourage bullying behavior" (p. 5). While gender-related bullying and harassment can occur in any type of classroom, physical education settings are especially rife with these opportunities (Fuller & Gulbrandson, 2013).

There are also some significant gender-related differences in the incidence of so-called "cyberbullying." According to the definition provided by the Cyberbullying Research Center (2017), cyberbullying is "when someone repeatedly harasses, mistreats, or makes fun of another person online or while using cell phones or other electronic devices" (Cyberbullying data, para. 2). As shown in Figure 1 below, slightly more than 40% of a sample of female students reported being the victim of cyberbullying at some point in their lives compared to just under 29% for males, and females also reported having been cyberbullied more frequently than males in the past 30 days (18.5% vs. 11.8%, respectively).

Figure 1. Cyberbullying by gender: Random sample from a Midwestern U.S. school -- February 2015

Source: Cyberbullying data, 2017

The research to date indicates that cyberbullying is rapidly becoming far more commonplace today, with almost twice as many American students reporting being the victim of cyberbullying in 2016 compared to 2007 (Bullying statistics, 2017). Because cyberbullying and traditional bullying remain significantly underreported, though, these statistics are likely just the tip of the iceberg but they do reinforce the fact that gender plays a major role in determining who is being bullied and who is doing the bullying. Furthermore, the dearth of timely and accurate statistics concerning precise levels of gender-related bullying and harassment limits the ability of schools to implement policies that address the problem in more effective ways.