Question

Poster Scenario D

Bullying Scenario

You are a LGBT support group. One of your young members has told his family that he is gay. He has met with a hostile reaction from his immediate/extended family and the community where he lives. This has resulted in assault at home and name calling in the street.

You must;

Discuss the situation and the effects on the victim. (this should cover learning outcome 1&2)

Plan how to contain the issue. (this should cover learning outcome 3)

How would you support the victim, and educate others around the issues. (this should cover learning outcome 4)

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student will be able to:
1.	Explain the framework of the different forms of Bullying and Conflict
2.	Identify emotional, social and physical health effects of conflict/bullying
3.	Identify positive interpersonal communication strategies and skills that can be used to deal with conflict/bullying effectively
4	Analyse the influence of friends, family, culture, media and technology on bullying/conflict

Answer 1

Bullying is unwanted , aggressive behavior among school aged children or adults. It involves a real or perceived power Imbalance and the behaviour is repeated or has the potential to be repeated over time. Both who are bullied and who bully others may have serious lasting problems.

In the above mentioned scenario in question the individual getting bullied is from LGBT community,ie. Lesbian,gay,bisexual and transgender population. These people are likely to be teased and bullied by their peers.These LGBT youths have reported experiencing harassment, discrimination and other negative events in school, in community and family ,often specifically related to their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Different forms of bullying that a victim may suffer from are-

1.Physical bullying- includes hitting,kicking , pinching or pushing. Can cause short term and long term damage.

2. Verbal bullying - includes insulting, intimidating, calling, making homophobic or racist remarks, verbally abusing.

3. Social bullying- it's covert bullying, difficult to recognise and is carried out behind person's back. Includes lying and spreading rumors,playing nasty jokes , socially excluding someone.

4. Cyber bullying- can be over to or covert bullying,using digital technologies, social media,messaging ,using websites and other online portals. It can include abusive ,hurtful text ,emails,posts,images etc. , Deliberately excluding someone online,nasty gossips or rumors.

Let's discuss various emotional, social and physical effects of bullying -

Studies report that bullying based on actual or perceived sexual orientation is associated with much higher levels of health risk and lower levels of resilience.

People bullied for being a part of LGBT community usually have lower grades in school,are more likely to miss school or college.

They have higher rates of depression, many of them attempt suicide.

More likely to report substance abuse.

They feel less connected to society,teachers,family and friends.

Bullied LGBT youth may link their feelings of vulnerability to their LGBT identity and incorporate this as a core part of their self concept.

3. Planning to contain issue in the scenario:-

In general there should be promotion of student and family engagement, monitoring, addressing the problem and providing essential support.

- promoting engagement through enrichment activities,including opportunities for all to engage in community service.

- pairing the bullied youth with specific adult mentor/advocate for regular support. Promoting peer mentor s.

- perparing teachers and staff to model caring behavior towards such children.

- involving students in establisshing rules against bullying.

- teaching students what to do when they witness a bullying incident.

Promoting social skills training, assertive training skills, preparing small students by teaching them through roleplay.

- antibullying policy should be in practice and should include a specific focus on adressing and practices should counter harrasment directed at sexual orientation.

- ensure LGBT youth know where they can go for information and support.

- protecting youth/student privacy

- enable establishment of similar students club/support groups.

4. How would I support the victim and educate others around the issues-

Among the friends and family and other people around all should be educated about why and how the existence of diversity in gender expression to be accepted and handeled. Awareness about existence of such communities and at the same time avoiding stigmatisation of such minorities is important.

Changing the views and perceptions of our society is difficult but important. So for changing perception of people about these issues various awareness programs should be conducted. People should not perceive LGBT youth as some kind of sinners,or people who should be ashamed of their diverse gender choices.

- Along with acceptance of such LGBT youth, at all levels there should be intervention which can help students , family members, society to make them learn to respect diversity in gender expression,they should also learn to respect diversity in romantic expression and self expression.

- Staff should be trained . All staff and administration need to have basic information and understanding of LGBT issues to fulfill their responsibilities for creating evironment that is safe for everyone.

- LGBT issues should be included in the curriculum,not only as an aspect of health education but for gaining information.

Media can be utilized for prevention of bullying and not for cyber bullying. Media as we know is a very powerful tool in todays time, it can be utilized to educate people,make them aware about existence of LGBT and the challenges they face and also importance of creating a safe environment in the society for such population.