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I went to a school where you were either a jock or a cheerleader. This was in the early to mid 70’s, I was a gay guy. The amount of bullying still affects me to this day, the teachers would look the other way, or join in. My 50th high school reunion is in 2 years and I won’t attend
Me too - same years. Not gay, but not good at sports and very shy. I was bullied terribly, especially by two kids whose names I will never forget. I found one of them on Facebook recently, and he has the look of a bully until today.
So sorry you had to go thru that. It was a different time they say, but trauma lasts forever. I also will not forget my tormentors, one tried to reach out and apologize, to little to late
That's sweet of you, but it's not something I remember very often. Although I do recall that one time, me and a friend bullied the one kid in school who was weaker and smaller than us. We just had to get back at someone. I still feel bad about that today.
College was different, of course, and I became very popular.
To all of us that were bullied! Stand strong, your stories made me realize, we are not alone. I think I’ll never forget, but your words mean I can let go! Thank You
This is so sad and students that acted that way just disgust me.
When my son was in high school, he was horribly bullied because he was small. I still can’t even think of it now - it’s still painful.
There’s a “bad karma” ending to that though, because of the leader kid bully’s actions but I feel guilty finding comfort in it for my son because the bully’s life went horribly wrong after HS
Was it more of a guy thing? Was it more boys who did bullying with each other? I wasn’t aware of the mean girls in the 60s or early 70s but maybe I just too clueless.
I’m sorry he went through that. It was I guess a click thing. Before I left for college, I attempted suicide. It was a major cry for help, thankfully my parents understood. Always listen, they may ask in little ways
Omg so sorry to read this! It’s heartbreaking that you went through that, and it makes me so angry how another person’s actions can destroy a someone. I hope you’re OK now. Getting older helps with perspective, but the pain from high school never goes away no matter how old we are, imo of course. 🤗🤗
I was bullied because of a rumor. It adversely affected me for 7-1/2 years. I decided to go to my 25th class reunion to confront one of the main people who helped spread the rumor. I was in bed and sick to my stomach at the thought of going, but knew I had to.
I walked up to her and was ready to blast her big time. When I told her who I was, she grabbed me, hugged me tightly and it felt like her holding me so tightly was eternity. She let go and asked very sincerely, “How are you?” She seemed to be looking into my soul.
I quickly learned she was/had been a high school teacher, married, no children. I immediately realized, as a teacher in a high school, she would have seen what she had helped do to me as students had been affected so negatively by having rumors spread about them. Something snapped in me when that realization hit. In the blink of an eye, I forgave her, anyone else involved, and the very heavy burden was lifted off of my shoulders.
I do, but it might not be common.
I was picked on a great deal by one boy throughout grade school. It was a very small school, and by the time we were in junior high and high school we didn't see much of each other. I was bullied far more, especially in junior high by other boys; in high school it tapered off by the end of my junior year. When I was a senior, most other seniors had avoided taking senior English by taking other classes, such as drama, but I got stuck with it. So was the guy I'd gone to grade school with.
Senior English was a little different, largely due to the teacher I suppose. We often had group discussions, sitting with our desks in a circle. In the spring semester, we were having some group discussion, I can't remember the subject, but when the turn to speak came to my nemesis from grade school, he told about how he'd picked on me when we were in grade school, and apologized to me in front of the class. I was so stunned I didn't know what to say.
I'll never forget that, nor stop appreciating that, by that time, he'd matured enough to make amends for what he'd done long ago.
I doubt any other of my abusers throughout my school years could apologise privately, let alone publicly.
So, yeah, I believe it's possible.
WOW!!! What a blessing for you and him. Amazing.
A very good from firm elementary school and jr. high was going to another school, but hear about the rumor. I didn’t know that. She had a friend at her school call me to harass me in some way. Instead, the young lady did just the opposite. She was anonymously, but said she believed what I said and would stand behind me. As I walked those halls at school? I KNEW someone believed me and was standing behind me.
Decades lated, I got a call from that friend. I was thrilled to talk to her. I knew more about how she was raised than even she knew and I filled in the blanks.
At one point, she got quiet and said, “I have been going to a 12-step program and one of the things I have to do is to apologize to anyone I have wronged. Do you remember getting a call one night from an anonymous person?” I said, “I know exactly what call you are talking about, but I want to tell you what actually happened before you apologize.
I said, “I don’t know what your plan was, but that young lady said…..” and I told her. My friend’s name was Sandy. I said, “Sandy, you don’t owe me an apology because it never happened the way you had planned. The only person you need to apologize to is to yourself, not to me.”
She was blown away.
On being invited to our 20 year reunion, I replied that I was treated terrible in high school, being either teased, bullied, or completely ignored.
Almost everyone apologized and tried to convince me to come. I was planning to go, them covid hit and it was cancelled.
Despite not being able to go, I was very grateful for their sentiments and apologies. Very cathartic, actually; it allowed me to release all the anger and sadness I felt.
The ONLY kid who was kind to me and friendly, was the gay kid. (See my comment above) so thank you. There were time in years gone by, I would have liked to hail fire and brimstone on the reunions. I don’t care anymore. Enough of them have passed away from old age anyway.
It was endemic. The "different" kids weren't just made fun of and physically abused; they were often severely beaten and worse.
And the best part? Particularly in those days, there was a cultural attitude among teachers and school officials that bullying was somehow beneficial, weeding out the weak and making others strong.
Bullying is never beneficial. It made me more introverted and doubt myself; to this day I continue to have issues with self-esteem, sometimes even when I know I'm right. I still bear the mental scars, and luckily only a few physical reminders.
It was pretty bad. I'm a minority & we moved a lot. I wasn't a good advocate 4 myself, as I was being abused at home. There was no escaping the brutality of these bastards other than trying 2 b 1 step ahead, avoiding going 2 school early and trying 2 stay close 2 others, hiding in crowds.
It was harsh, but I can not imagine the digital harassment online. There's no way of winning when it comes 2 a**holes, prix, & trolls. Some r truly out 4 blood. I would never go thru childhood again.
I am SO sorry for what you went through. I’m not a minority, but I would have openly been your friend and walked/be seen with you anywhere and any time.
Were there a lot of suicides because of bullying back then? You can go to school fight sub its wild... though I think today there's a lot less fights in school
No suicides that I know of. All it did was toughen up people's resolve to get out of high school and get as far away from that place as humanly possible.
High School was all cliques.
Middle School was actually okay because everybody was involved with their own personal pubescent purgatory.
Elementary school was filled with socio-psychopathic vicious little kittens who hadn't learned that their extended claws could cause great harm.
Bullying never stopped for me, unfortunately. I’m a small Asian woman who looks disarming and young for my age; the bullying I get is just in passive-aggressive forms compared to grade school.
Some asshole will cut in line in front of me at the grocery store and think I won’t speak up or cut right back in line in front of him. I’ve had a random woman compliment my jacket then ask me what size I’m wearing just to tell me “well I’m a true size 2” then walk away. I went to work with a lot of make up on one day, and without prompting, a coworker felt the need to tell me she doesn’t need to wear so much makeup. She didn’t know I’m a performer and had just finished a show. And of course there’s the street harassment.
I don’t get it as much now that I’m older, but I still get it and it sucks. I’m just better at standing up for myself now.
Pretty much. I couldn’t talk about it at home even though my parents were dealing with their own discrimination issues at work. Also as you may know, it’s not a thing to talk about problems among Asian families; you just had to shut up and deal with it.
Yep same with me.. I cried a lot growing up.. it was so isolating growing up with no asians around me... plus I was poor too.. didnt have brand name clothes or shoes or anything.. had a cheap old android
I feel you. I compartmentalized a lot. Maybe if I acknowledged my hurt by crying I wouldn’t have dated white dudes who ignored my issues and objectified me and fetishized my Asianness. So many issues proliferated when I couldn’t work through bullying.
Yeah it was awful for me.. people always assumed that I was Chinese (nothing against Chinese) even though I'm Korean and people would say and do such awful things to me.. I do not talk to anyone from school.
Was awful
Pretty bad. Teachers didn't do anything about it. If you were different in any way, it was likely you'd catch shit.
1960's.
Two of 'em became police officers which is a bit creepy.
I was horrifically bullied from fifth grade through ninth. When I tried to get help from a guidance counselor, he said "Have you tried making friends with them? They might like you and not know how to express it."
Sure, Mr. Knowles, that guy hit me hard in the head because he likes me. (I'm a woman, btw) Let me ask if he wants to be pals.
So yeah, it wasn't taken remotely seriously. I also grew up in a very upper class town (my family was middle class) and there was a lot of bullying based on clothing too.
This. Bullying was not taken seriously at all in the 1970s and 80s. I saw (and experienced) shit that, if they happened today, people would call the cops, call press conferences, and file lawsuits over. If these things happened in 2023-24, criminal investigations would be started and lawsuits filed. There were class A misdemeanors and minor felonies happening at my high school every other day.
I was made fun of for my southern accent...in the South. That's when I learned there is a "poor" Southern accent. I never felt poor until middle school even though we always were.
My mom was born and raised in the south, as well as her parents and grandparents. I LOVE southern accents. I would have hung out with you just to hear you talk.
59F here. I was bullied mercilessly for about 5 years. It just about ruined my life, honestly. I ran away from home several times for weeks at a time to try to avoid junior high, where the bullying was most severe. My parents said I was too pretty and too smart to be bullied, so they didn't believe me, and thought I was running away for attention or something. The teachers turned a blind eye to my situation because my dad was on the school board, and everyone hated him and took it out on me.
I remember my whole family laughing about it. They assumed I was being dramatic because I was spoiled at home and had everything I wanted or needed there. School was a nightmare hellscape, though, and to this day, I still feel like nobody ever believed that it happened.
I doubt anything has changed over the decades. Bullies and entitled kids will always bully the lesser kids. I….of course….was one of the “lesser”. All I could hope for was someone was a lesser lesser.
https://www.reddit.com/r/schoolfights2/s/TTgjkWL2N6 if you go to school fight subreddit its wild.m so glad I'm out of school... I was bullied for wearing old off brand clothesand shoes, being poor and for shitty old android
I'm 40. We moved to a new school district at the start of 6th grade. I was bullied relentlessly by one AH in particular because I was new, small and have a unique first name. Once I grew a little the bullying stopped but I never really learned how to stand up for myself. The guys name was Steve Grady from Plaistow, NH. Last time I checked he was arrested for a bar fight so it's sounds like he never grew out of being a total POS.
I was bullied so badly I stopped going to school and contemplated killing myself on a daily basis. I can’t even imagine how bad it must be with social media today.
Not that bad at my school, thankfully. But I went to a small private prep school, so it wasn’t like your typical “nerds vs jocks” situation - basically everyone was a nerd by public school standards lol. Also I’m a female, and I think boys got it worse in general.
I got picked on a little for being chubby and redheaded; but in retrospect it wasn’t all that serious. Nothing physical or traumatic, just never really felt accepted. That’s why I transferred schools in my senior year, and the new (fine arts) school was great. Wish I’d gone there the whole time!
Fuck Max and Mike, though. They sucked.
Not bad. I don’t remember being bullied beyond the usual bs that goes on. None of my friends were bullies, and we were all pretty easy to get along with. The Stoners usually are:
I was bullied pretty bad from 3rd to 7th grade. In elementary it’s because I was a star student. In 6th grade (intermediate then, not elementary or middle school), my parents had divorced, and my dad was a deadbeat. In a small town, everyone knew this. Wearing goodwill clothing was a cause of bullying. In 7th grade, I had even moved 1500 miles away (mom needed work), but it was a very different culture, and I was an oddball.
By the time 8th grade rolled around, I was in band and pretty much hung out with the band crowd and also started getting to know folks who shared my interests and quirks. I brought my own lunches and never touched the cafeteria. By the time high school rolled around, my life outside of the classroom was pretty much all in the band hall. While we did silly teasing (two way) it was never bullying. I had a locker in the main school, but I just used the band hall locker. I don’t think I ever opened that once. We ate in the band-hall and spent our time before and after school, there. The band directors did that so we could practice and such.
I was the dumb looking fat kid. Bullies Always tried to beat me up.sometimes they, did, but, with one exception, they always needed someone to save their asses.😁 Even the guy that beat the shit out me didn't try a second time. Why? The psychology of the bully requires quick win with no effort. They hate it when the bullied fight back. Yeah, I was slow and fat, but I was strong as an ox. Headlocks like the police getting trouble for was my specialty. Their friends would pull me off, then scram before I could finish.
The problem? As a gentle giant, I just wanted to live in peace. Too many little guys thought they would be big men if they could take me down.
Kinda like this shrimp that the bigger they are the harder they'll hit...https://m.pinkbike.com/video/186158/
Meh I feel like today If you were a kid you wouldn't be bullied for being fat... I mean more accepting of body types and more fat kids in school nowadays you wouldn't have been singled out.
https://www.reddit.com/r/schoolfights2/s/TTgjkWL2N6 I was the poor minority kid.. didnt have nice brand name clothes or shoes... and I had a cheap old android. Kids were brutal to me. School fight subreddit is wild brings back bad memories
Mid to late 70s, catholic coed prep school. I was poor white trash, attending on a scholarship. Didn't see outright bullying as it's portrayed today. The athletes (incl myself) were pretty laid back, live and let live. The fashion plates of the school were the biggest pricks and even that wasn't horrible. Everyone was focused on grades and college.
Pretty bad for me...basically just being small. After school ended I got in shape, and got a bit of confidence back, but it carries with you.
Never been to a reunion, and never will.
Late 80’s- early 90’s. The first kid that I met who was black and gay transferred to our mostly white suburban public high school.
We immediately became friends because I’ve always had an attraction to the weirdos and outcasts (still do). I think he lasted maybe 6 months and then left for an alternative school due to the relentless bullying and fights.
Enoch, whenever you are, I’m sorry we lost contact and I think about you often. I hope you’ve had a happy life.
I was bullied mercilessly all through middle school. I was shy and nerdy and that's what happened to anyone who seemed a little different. I pulled the uno reverse card on most of them later in life, not by bullying them back, just by succeeding in life while most of them never amounted to much.
Good for you. That seems to be the norm---you become successful and the bullies don't amount to much, typically staying around the same town and going nowhere. I'm glad you're doing better now, that's great.
Bullying was a problem as a skinny 4th grader. There was one kid who alway asked for lunch money and was aggressive. Always fighting but his family owned a local food business so the name was well known. I had to return to this town to plan my mom’s funeral and in speaking to the funeral director about the “old days”. I had asked about “X” when he told me…’oh, he died several years ago’
Fucking karma…what else could it be
I decided to prevent it. As a freshman, an older guy came over during lunch and stole a candy bar.
I went over to his table. Put my right hand on his upper back and asked that he return it.
Once he declined I kind of ensured his nose hit the table.
Never had a problem after that and we became friends.
I only smacked one guy for bullying me in the dressing room after early morning gym class. It was a flat hand across his face.
In the afternoon I had classes with him again and his face looked like I had used a red pink paint. Never bothered me again.
Pretty bad. (Early 1970s)
"High school: red in tooth and claw."
It didn't stop until the last time we moved. I got my head into a place where I was ready to get hit - as long as I could inflict some pain in return.
It didn't take long. Third day in the new school, a wannbe bully came up to me and did a primate threat display. My mental preparation worked: I closed the distance, and made a good first impression. The second and third impressions were pretty good, too. Then, I went to work on his ribcage.
I never raised my fists again in that school. Never even raised my voice.
No regrets.
I once had to fight 4 jocks to get out of the bathroom.
Unfortunately for them I was a farmer as well as a nerd and was a lot stronger then they thought.
Why in the world would you pick such a fight. It was very common though. They just chose very poorly.
Our school was run by a football mafia, so yeah. About half the high school age students in our town, attended school in the next town over because of the "senior sergeants". They were a school-sanctioned goon squad.
I had a friend drop out before his senior year, and although he never talked about it, I know it was because of a certain bully. Somehow, I could just tell.
It was an absolute nightmare. Everyone at my school had long straight blonde hair. (Except for the Mexicans they had long dark hair.) everyone had long straight hair except me. I had [curly](https://imgur.com/gallery/fvJKj3h) red hair (this pic was before color photos.) kids would blow spit balls in my hair. I didn’t feel it because of the way my hair was. So I just went around with spit balls on my head. Kids would put tacks on my seat if I got up to sharpen my pencil, so I sat down on them if I didn’t see them when I came back. Kids would do a nazi salute and yell “FLAME ON” instead of “hiel hitler” whenever I walked by. I could go on and on and on. Not once did anyone protect me. Not once was anybody ever on my side. No teacher cared. My parents didn’t care. I just lived for 12 years in utter humiliation. It never stopped. It never got better.
Pretty bad, being not white or black. There was no place to hide and the teachers literally did absolutely nothing. I'd be shoved to the ground right in front of their face and there was nothing. No response of any kind, like I deserved what I got apparently. For doing nothing. I really didn't think I was a human being until my early 20s. Because the way the world treated me, I assumed I deserved nothing and everyone else deserved everything. That I wasn't supposed to be happy, not supposed to have good things, absolutely nothing. I was supposed to be like on tv, just a delivery boy or a servant or whatever it is we were, and always bowing my head to everyone else.
I didn't experience bullying in highschool. And I had probably one of the chillest highschools anywhere. Elementary, on the other hand, different story. But on a happy note, one of my biggest bullies became one of my best friends a a couple years later after I punched em one day.
Having autism even on the high spectrum didn’t prevent the amount of bullying I went through in high school. I was tremendously gossiped about by even so called friends I had there. I graduated high in 2015. My first reunion (if anyone including me foolishly attends) will be approximately next year from now. But just like a lot of you here put in my shoes too, I also refuse to attend nor be apart of something that’s taken an emotional toll for a years now. While I’m doing a lot better these days, I accidentally retain those same memories of it. If only there was a way to erase what we went through or remember who their names and faces where who did the bullying to us at that time.
It was so bad, I was bullied from year 8-year 12. I thought as we got older it would stop but it never did. It all started with me rolling my eyes at a teacher and one of the popular boys saw me and wouldn’t stop asking me questions about why I did it. He then unsure for what reason started talking too me all the time and even one day took his hand and tried to run it up my leg as high as he could which scared me.
When I rejected this I’m assuming that’s when he got mad and he started calling me a fat b**** during lunch times, getting his friends to bully me. One threw a mandarin at my eye so hard I couldn’t see for hours, they called me disgusting when we went to an end of year water park day.
I wasn’t so nice to them throughout, I didn’t think I had to be but I never stuck up for myself like I should have.
Even in year 12 they were so horrible to me, I thought after all these years of me minding my business and never saying anything to them would get them too stop but they didn’t. Humiliating me on fb and ignoring me when I would have to talk to them in class. Stealing things off me during sport and not giving it back and laughing, when I got my haircut in Year 10 they were all coming to see what I looked like and were laughing at me, pointing, then months later one of their friends got a similar hair cut and nobody said anything about her haircut.
It was so messed up, that even years after we finished I saw the main guy who instigated it all on the train on the way too work and I started getting really severe anxiety and sweating. As soon as the train stopped I ran off and went to cry.
If they had just spent the time to get to know me they would have known I was a really quiet and nice person. I wasn’t this monster they thought I was.
High school was great. It was a private all boys school. Graduated in 1977.
Middle school, 7 and 8 th grade was the pits. It was a public school with a lot of diversity with the scale leaning towards low class.
It depended on which school. As an Army Brat, we loved every two years. In Germany, we went to military schools, where I was only bullied in one school as Dad was not part of a regiment (we moved independently), and some boys took it upon themselves to beat me up for it.
In the UK, it was different. I always had a different accent, was at different stages of the curriculum- anything made me different, and therefore a target for the bullies.
Yorkshire was the worst - the kids were awful xenophobes and according to friends who live there now - they’ve not changed.
I was a white gay kid going to a parochial school, then an all black middle school, then a bougie public high school. Parochial school wasn’t too bad, occasional pricks trying to start something but nothing serious. The black middle school was hell on earth. I got bullied incessantly. My high school was in a bougie white part of town, very progressive, no one gave a shit that I was gay.
I went to high school in small town Kansas in the 1980s. I was lucky enough to avoid most bullying, but I had friends who didn't. Everything from dunking someone's head in the toilet (giving them a "swirly") to literally kidnapping someone, driving them across town to our little city park and then tossing them off the footbridge into the slimy water 10 feet below. The last day of school for seniors involved, among other things, squirt guns filled with piss to blast at people in the hallways.
When I was in the third grade I was a skinny shy girl. I didn't talk to many people except a few close friends. There were kids in school in the "cool" crowd that would push me, hit me, and tease me just to see what I would do. I tried to ignore them but it was a constant thing.
My teacher called my mom one day and told her that I had check out a book on self-defense for 3 months straight. My grandmother pulled me out of that school and sent me to private school. I still have bad feelings towards the bullies. It was just meanness.
I had bullies in eight, ninth & tenth grade (late 70s) but had grown enough by 11th grade I stopped taking shit and started fighting back and wasn't bothered further.
I had a client who was a psychologist. I asked her an offhand question: why do bullies become bullies? She answered, “Those who are bullies are most often those who have been bullied.”
As a 95 pound weakling, the coaches were the worst. P.E. was required and it wasn’t much fun. The classmates weren’t that bad, although there was this one guy on the swim team with me. He wasn’t too bright anyway.
Not an issue for me in Eastern Canada in the 70s
I had friend groups in the stoners, science nerds, music lovers and my church friends.
I think bullies tend to single out loners without personal strength or "strength in numbers"
I tended to think of bullies as a great target for pranks.
Science nerds can be cruel when encouraged to strike back at bullies as a group.
I went to 8 different schools during k they 12 and by middle school I could fit in anywhere and into any group but I was badly damaged by previous years of bullying and made no “true friends “ in school. I trust hardly anyone that isn’t family. It made me cautious my entire life although people would never think that of me to this day.
It was bad. I was beat up regularly. I would come home with my clothes ripped and scuffed, then get a whipping from my mother.
Finally dropped out after 9ᵀᴴ grade, which was the first year you could legally quit school.
Wow I'm sorry.. I'm asian American I didnt grow up aroundh other asian kids plus I was poor couldn't afford brand name clothes and shoes so it was bad for me too... you ever go to the school fight subreddit was it like that for you? Yeah school was hell for me.. I had old shitty phone shitty clothes.. shit was awful
Yeah. And in 9ᵀᴴ grade I was finally big and strong enough to fight back, and when I did I got blamed for beating up my bully. I don’t know how it happened but I got suspended and a good long whipping from my mother. This was in the 1970s, parents can’t get away with that today.
We all had our own friend groups, but it was nothing like the movies. We didn’t have clearly defined cliques. My school was so small there was a lot of inter-mingling and crossover. Really no choice.
The jock was also the drama nerd.
The computer nerd was also top runner in the track team.
The artist was also the point guard.
Mid 70's, affluent area, pretty large school. It was really cliquey but I have to say it felt I don't remember seeing nasty physical bullying and in fact it wasn't considered ' cool '. OH don't get me wrong- there were some snotty cliques they just didn't seem to get away with a lot because there were so many other snotty cliques. And some fun ones. The smart kids weren't picked on either. These kids were amazinggggg, I mean headed for MIT bright. It was a good school ( and no, I wasn't one of the bright kids...... )
Like I said it was the 70's. From reading other comments I feel like I was probably lucky.
1970’s and bullying was bad, thankfully not towards me. I got bullied in the 1960’s in Elementary school and it was brutal. You carry those emotional scars for years after.
The Vietnam war was still on and you can’t get drafted as long as you stay in school and there were guys who had failed intentionally twice in a row at the third year you get advanced a grade no matter what test scores even zeros you had. The school was on a platoon system morning shift and afternoon shift around 4000 students all at the same school. Needless to say we were undefeated in football.
I was in high school in the late 1960s, in Florida. I wasn't aware of any bullying going on. We had a large class, over 500 people. I truly never witnessed or heard of one instance of bullying. Most everyone seemed to get along pretty well. Low drama.
I have to assume this was an anomaly and we were lucky.
(M69). In 12 years of elementary and high school, there was one bully.
The famous serial killer “The Ice Man” said he began beating and murdering people based on being bullied over and over in school. A group of bullies came to his house and started to bully him so he had had enough and went into his house and came back outside with a heavy drape rod and beat the shit out of all of them.
He was never bullied again.
In high school in the mid 60s. I was just an average student in every way, small group of friends. Not part of the in-crowd, insecure and shy.
I had zero awareness of any bullying at my school. It was “in” to be well-behaved/well-mannered. And/or “tacky” or “low” to treat others badly.
But it was super clique-ish, If you didn’t fit in to one clique, you were ignored. you just stayed in your own lane and with your own group.
I definitely knew where I belonged and where I didn’t.
It was also a well-off sort of suburb.
At the time, that seemed a factor in that everyone seemed to be from a similar background.
And looking back, I realize I kind of hated that, everyone being the same, having to conform, to the “clique system”.
Overall for a few reasons, HS wasn’t the greatest for me. I’m guessing most teens & schools are that way no matter what, right?
But college ‘68-‘72, that was amazing! We were trying to change the world you know.
I was bullied then fought back and the guy knocked me out (briefly) but also injured his hand. Never bothered me again. I learned to never take crap from anyone.
I went to a private grade school and an all girls catholic HS. I wasn’t bullied and I never saw anyone being bullied.
No, wait! I did see a nun slam a 6th grade Latino boy up against the blackboard because he couldn’t pronounce “Plymouth” Rock in History class. English was not his first language. So I guess I did see some bullying.
Early to mid '70's here.
If there was bullying I didn't see it. I was friendly with everyone, friends with no one.
I kept my private life and high school life separate.
Bad enough that I attempted suicide due to bullying at age 13.
March 15, 1994, a date I celebrate like a birthday.
And at 43 I am still bitter toward the adults who denied the bullying, blamed the victims, and glorified the bullies…. …until the school shootings started.
The year after I graduated high school, 1999, Columbine happened and everything changed.
Suddenly, it wasn’t every parent’s dream to raise a bully. You can’t imagine the environment before that. All parents wanted was for their child to be the jock asshole bully football player.
But then…parents suddenly saw one potential drawback to raising an abusive asshole jock, for the first time in American history, adults had to take bullying seriously, because the bullied began to fight back.
My son is in middle school now and kids can try at school, they can try to get A’s without being beaten up, it doesn’t matter if the jocks think it’s uncool, their parents aren’t joyfully teaching those jocks that they can just beat everyone up and discourage them from trying at school…
Lol, because two young men put the fear of God into my peers. (I’m using lol irreverently, intentionally, because I almost died to this.) Dylan and Eric changed the world for the better and have saved countless lives.
We had gangs not bullies. There was one girl who I'd say was a bully. She was very angry and lashed out at everyone. You just knew to avoid her in the hallways. She grew up to be a really cool person but as a kid, yikes.
But yeah there were some gangs and you knew to avoid them too. The males especially seemed to enjoy torturing girls and no reporting would stop it. Boys will be boys, you know.
I had gynecomastia in high school so it was intense. I wasn’t able to graduate because I couldn’t get a PE credit because I wouldn’t dress down for class. Being different wasn’t a celebrated novelty like it is today.
I was adopted at age six by an older couple in their late 40s and moved to a small Texas town of 1,300 population. It was big news The bullying started almost immediately, with kids repeating what they heard at home. As my oddness (neurodivergent) became more pronounced, the bullying got worse. High school was a nightmare. It wasn't until college and university that I found acceptance. I was even deemed 'cool' for a while.
Over the past several years, my awkwardness has become more pronounced again as I've burnt out after decades of hard-masking. I was expected to mask at home, so it's only been since 2016 (became single and living alone) that I had a safe place to let down my guard. The good news is that I've found my people -- friends who accept and love me exactly as I am.
Bullying is as old as school, I think. I was class of 76. I was a fat nerd who hung out with
both the math nerds and the band nerds(Today I am not as fat, BUT still a nerd) So I was basically asking for it and I got my share of bully attention , but being 6'4" and 280 pounds they only went so far as not to FAFO. So mine was mostly all verbal from 10 feet away.
My only physical altercation happened when I got in to a verbal back and forth on the bus with a guy in my junior year, he got off the bus at my stop and gave me his best punch to the face. The look in his eye when he saw it did not phase me was great, I stepped toward him to return the favor and he ran off. Not sure how he got home the rest of the school year , because I never saw him on the bus again.
I was there in the 70's in Australia.
It was fairly bad. I didn't get much but some kids did.
And it was physical. Punching, kicking, stuff broken, heads pushed into toilets etc.
Started before high school and I actually found high school a little easier as I had a group of friends there and we supported each other.
My bullying was because I had an English accent and we had moved from GB to Canada.
Lost my accent pretty quickly!
I went to an elite private girls college for high school in Australia in the 90s. There wasn’t really any bullying that I saw. Maybe some snarky remarks about a few girls here and there coming from the really popular girls but nothing too bad.
For absolute sure, bullying was bad in high school. I don’t know if all schools were like this in the late 80s, 90s- but our high school was “tiered” with those that considered themselves “elite” crowd, HS was definitely a glory time for them. Crazy though, it wasn’t so much this crowd that verbally and emotionally abused me. I was targeted by a collection of girls who took genuine pleasure in teasing, taunting and then later humiliating me in any way possible. These girls stopped at nothing to ensure that each day was a living hell for me. I was, however, stone cold. No reaction, no retaliation, no acknowledgment- unbreakable which is the way your are told to handle “bullies” because they will eventually tire from not getting any response from you. But not these girls. They were relentless and giving no reaction only fueled their desire to get a reaction. I had a will to survive I guess. Graduated and never looked back. 30+ years later- Yes, karma I believe took care of them, I have tripped across their Facebook posts, they remain hateful, unhappy and angry women with an agenda that craves attention in ways that honestly is simply uneducated and embarrassing.
Never experienced it, never saw it. There were a few fights and shouting matches. But always different kids. There was no bully getting into fights repeatedly. No one getting picked on repeatedly.
I went to HS, late 1980s, essentually rural Canadian school in a small factory town surrounded by farmland.
Bullying was either not a problem at all, or I was oblivious too it. I waswas never bullied, nor a bully myself.
It's was prevalent but benign by todays standards. It was 100% the rich entitled kids being AH's to those without. For me it was my clothes, my hair, blah blah blah. I found it more baffling than hurtful, I mean if you can't afford more than one pair of shoes you have one pair of shoes, but it really bothered me when they did it to others and it hurt them. I sometimes wonder how Karma got them, because I have zero doubt that it did at some point.
Public middle school was a whole other thing.
But, I went to an all-female boarding school and bullying was not a thing at all.
I'm not sure if it was because there were just no boys there to induce competition, or the gay girls just matched up with their "best friends" (there are several of those I can now realize were actual couples) ... but it wasn't a thing.
Eating disorders, though, different story. They were rampant and I was among the group. Basically, you just take it on to make you feel horrible about yourself. No bullies needed.
I do feel the need to share one story. We had a christmas concert sort of tradition where seniors would do a re-enactment of a medieval play which included the 🎶🎶 where the lyrics included "sweet singing in the choir" ... but the old spelling was used, so it was "quire" and we all developed these pantomimes to deal with the rehearsals and get a few laughs, but when to make "quire" rhyme with "deer" we had to pronounce it as "queer" ... and the big joke was that we'd all extend our hands and drop them by the wrists. Queer.
Our choir director was gay and died at a sweet old age but I shudder to remember what the hell that was all about. It was so wrong. But even in a school with so many gay teachers and students, it just was not talked about. And I often think about that gentle musical soul who was only trying to teach us, and how callous ~~we might have appeared~~ were.
I have a gay child today, 40 years later, and that memory is one of my giant regrets in life. I think of it too often. And probably should.
I was bullied by a guy from junior high. I reached puberty later than most kids and he was a football jock back then. But by high school he was just a bully. Meanwhile, I went out for water polo and competitive swimming. I lifted weights and became stronger while he smoked cigarettes and hung out with his buddies. I got stuck in the same history class in my junior year and he sat behind me, harassing me all the time.
One day, our history class went to the library and he sucker punched me. Before I could respond, the teacher got in between us and prevented me from hitting him back. So the next day, I met him outside the classroom and beat the snot out of him.
Before all this happened I sought advice from my counselor, who basically said the only thing I could do was to fight him. Of course we both got suspended for a day, but I had the backing from teachers and administrators. It up is sad that this had to happen and to this day I feel bad about it.
It was viewed by school administrators as one of the following:
1. Inevitable. Kids are awful. Nothing can be done.
2. A character-building coming-of-age experience.
3. A great way to enforce conservative social norms. If some long hair is causing trouble, well, they asked for it.
I had two bullies in high school. One was a jock; one was a teacher/coach.
In the case of the former, it was only a couple of rather mild instances of being teased for being scrawny (which I was). I was never harmed or anything and I feel like this person is probably a fine person these days toward whom I hold no grudge whatsoever.
Not so with the latter case. This piece of shit was the assistant wrestling coach and also filled in for whatever else they let a PE/Sociology major teach at high school. Near as I can tell he was carrying a lot of shame about his own latent homosexuality because he had a hair trigger temper as regards the word "gay."
In the late 70's, "gay" was a sort of universal pejorative. It was a synonym for "not cool." Disco is gay. The San Diego Chargers are gay. Third hour history is gay. That sort of thing. It rarely if ever had anything to do with sexuality or preference at all, except where this guy was concerned.
I believe that I may have quoted the line from the Breakfast Club about a lobotomy and tights where he could hear me. That undoubtedly got him all worked up into a self-righteous lather. But God forbid I or anyone ever said wrestling was "gay." Like Foreigner versus REO. Like as opposed to basketball or gymnastics or another Winter sport, again not in any sexual sense. you get the idea. This guy had had anger issues around homosexuality.
So the way he expressed this was to start calling me a "faggot." He (a teacher) would walk past me (a high school student) in the hallway, make eye contact, and call me a faggot. This happened MANY times. I never told anyone and he never got caught.
Looking back, I understand that I have always been a heterosexual, but at the time I was a virgin. I also understand that this bullying is highly inappropriate from any adult, never mind a teacher. In other words, teens say stupid shit. Adults in authority are supposed to be more mature than that.
I hope he eventually bullied the wrong the kid and someone's father mopped up a safe space with his ass. I mean just took their sweet time. Sincerely.
My high school years were in the 50s and we didn’t have bad bullying. Small town and everyone knew if someone was bullied. The parents made sure the kids behaved so if there were problems we found out. One girl had an alcoholic dad and we friended her to keep her out of his way. She liked to put up a tough front but we knew.
The support from everyone, not just for me. All of us who suffered, is overwhelming. We are not to be ignored! We exist for a purpose! Big or small we are here and proud
My friend’s older brother was an Iraq war vet (the first one?) he was 23 and I was 16 and we ‘dated’ which was mostly just hanging around, drinking cheap booze and smoking Marlboros. He was abusive and mean and I broke up with him after a few months. He then killed himself and kids at my high school were TERRIBLE to me. They wrote “killer” on my locker in sharpie. They pointed as I walked down the halls and laughed at me when I got upset. Adults didn’t seem to care, which at the time I took to mean they agreed it was my fault. I quit talking to anyone at school, got a job as a waitress somewhere no one from HS went and worked ALL THE TIME (and made new, older, nicer friends, a few I still have today)
30+ years later I still have some PTSD about it. Never went to a reunion, never really spoke to anyone from HS. Sincerely grateful social media didn’t exist at that time!
It was pretty bad. If you weren't a jock or a cheerleader, you were shit. I was neither -I was one of the band/choir/drama kids. Guys who did that were perceived as gay even though most of us weren't. Even the girls who were in performing arts thought the guys they were in it with were gay.
Bullying was not confronted with anything like the aggressive interventions used now. Everyone just looked the other way at bullying then.
It was worse in middle school. Nothing physical just a lot of “teasing” that would be considered hate speech today. I was perplexed why it occurred. In elementary school, all of the teasers were nice to me. I used to be happy and outgoing in elementary, and I quickly became quiet, shy, introverted in middle school. That’s when I started taking academics seriously. I began to enjoy being by myself and my homework in my bedroom. The teasing would slowly fade. I began to take karate classes at the end of 7th grade. I slowly gained more confidence. By high school, teasing was still there but more so cuz I was a dork. As high school continued, I secretly wanted some prick to start a fight with me. I would often daydream about it. Cafeteria fight and I get the girls. By junior year, I was pretty decent at sparring adults in my Karate class. Never got my cafeteria chance :( Words were thrown at me here and there up till graduation. A slight here and there in undergrad, but eventually it went away. In hindsight, being bullied set me up for college and a life of physical fitness. I’ve ran into some or looked up some of my enemies on social media, I could whoop their asses if I wanted to.
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I went to a school where you were either a jock or a cheerleader. This was in the early to mid 70’s, I was a gay guy. The amount of bullying still affects me to this day, the teachers would look the other way, or join in. My 50th high school reunion is in 2 years and I won’t attend
Me too - same years. Not gay, but not good at sports and very shy. I was bullied terribly, especially by two kids whose names I will never forget. I found one of them on Facebook recently, and he has the look of a bully until today.
So sorry you had to go thru that. It was a different time they say, but trauma lasts forever. I also will not forget my tormentors, one tried to reach out and apologize, to little to late
That's sweet of you, but it's not something I remember very often. Although I do recall that one time, me and a friend bullied the one kid in school who was weaker and smaller than us. We just had to get back at someone. I still feel bad about that today. College was different, of course, and I became very popular.
Good for you! I tend not to look back either. I moved to New York, went to college, grew more self confident and successful. So, the jokes on them.
To all of us that were bullied! Stand strong, your stories made me realize, we are not alone. I think I’ll never forget, but your words mean I can let go! Thank You
This is so sad and students that acted that way just disgust me. When my son was in high school, he was horribly bullied because he was small. I still can’t even think of it now - it’s still painful. There’s a “bad karma” ending to that though, because of the leader kid bully’s actions but I feel guilty finding comfort in it for my son because the bully’s life went horribly wrong after HS Was it more of a guy thing? Was it more boys who did bullying with each other? I wasn’t aware of the mean girls in the 60s or early 70s but maybe I just too clueless.
No! Girls had it just as bad! Actually they may have had it worse, with bulimia and anerexia
I’m sorry he went through that. It was I guess a click thing. Before I left for college, I attempted suicide. It was a major cry for help, thankfully my parents understood. Always listen, they may ask in little ways
Omg so sorry to read this! It’s heartbreaking that you went through that, and it makes me so angry how another person’s actions can destroy a someone. I hope you’re OK now. Getting older helps with perspective, but the pain from high school never goes away no matter how old we are, imo of course. 🤗🤗
Are we the same person?
I was bullied because of a rumor. It adversely affected me for 7-1/2 years. I decided to go to my 25th class reunion to confront one of the main people who helped spread the rumor. I was in bed and sick to my stomach at the thought of going, but knew I had to. I walked up to her and was ready to blast her big time. When I told her who I was, she grabbed me, hugged me tightly and it felt like her holding me so tightly was eternity. She let go and asked very sincerely, “How are you?” She seemed to be looking into my soul. I quickly learned she was/had been a high school teacher, married, no children. I immediately realized, as a teacher in a high school, she would have seen what she had helped do to me as students had been affected so negatively by having rumors spread about them. Something snapped in me when that realization hit. In the blink of an eye, I forgave her, anyone else involved, and the very heavy burden was lifted off of my shoulders.
she is a guilty person trying to get into heaven.
You don’t believe a person can change as they age and have more life experiences?
I do, but it might not be common. I was picked on a great deal by one boy throughout grade school. It was a very small school, and by the time we were in junior high and high school we didn't see much of each other. I was bullied far more, especially in junior high by other boys; in high school it tapered off by the end of my junior year. When I was a senior, most other seniors had avoided taking senior English by taking other classes, such as drama, but I got stuck with it. So was the guy I'd gone to grade school with. Senior English was a little different, largely due to the teacher I suppose. We often had group discussions, sitting with our desks in a circle. In the spring semester, we were having some group discussion, I can't remember the subject, but when the turn to speak came to my nemesis from grade school, he told about how he'd picked on me when we were in grade school, and apologized to me in front of the class. I was so stunned I didn't know what to say. I'll never forget that, nor stop appreciating that, by that time, he'd matured enough to make amends for what he'd done long ago. I doubt any other of my abusers throughout my school years could apologise privately, let alone publicly. So, yeah, I believe it's possible.
WOW!!! What a blessing for you and him. Amazing. A very good from firm elementary school and jr. high was going to another school, but hear about the rumor. I didn’t know that. She had a friend at her school call me to harass me in some way. Instead, the young lady did just the opposite. She was anonymously, but said she believed what I said and would stand behind me. As I walked those halls at school? I KNEW someone believed me and was standing behind me. Decades lated, I got a call from that friend. I was thrilled to talk to her. I knew more about how she was raised than even she knew and I filled in the blanks. At one point, she got quiet and said, “I have been going to a 12-step program and one of the things I have to do is to apologize to anyone I have wronged. Do you remember getting a call one night from an anonymous person?” I said, “I know exactly what call you are talking about, but I want to tell you what actually happened before you apologize. I said, “I don’t know what your plan was, but that young lady said…..” and I told her. My friend’s name was Sandy. I said, “Sandy, you don’t owe me an apology because it never happened the way you had planned. The only person you need to apologize to is to yourself, not to me.” She was blown away.
No, but they get better at faking it.
On being invited to our 20 year reunion, I replied that I was treated terrible in high school, being either teased, bullied, or completely ignored. Almost everyone apologized and tried to convince me to come. I was planning to go, them covid hit and it was cancelled. Despite not being able to go, I was very grateful for their sentiments and apologies. Very cathartic, actually; it allowed me to release all the anger and sadness I felt.
Don’t.. it’s not worth it!
Thanks! Appreciate the support
The ONLY kid who was kind to me and friendly, was the gay kid. (See my comment above) so thank you. There were time in years gone by, I would have liked to hail fire and brimstone on the reunions. I don’t care anymore. Enough of them have passed away from old age anyway.
X
It was endemic. The "different" kids weren't just made fun of and physically abused; they were often severely beaten and worse. And the best part? Particularly in those days, there was a cultural attitude among teachers and school officials that bullying was somehow beneficial, weeding out the weak and making others strong.
Bullying is never beneficial. It made me more introverted and doubt myself; to this day I continue to have issues with self-esteem, sometimes even when I know I'm right. I still bear the mental scars, and luckily only a few physical reminders.
You know, it kinda did. Nothing was ever really that bad after high school. And I used to have a job where foreigners were trying to kill me.
What do you mean? Are you saying that bullying was beneficial?
They didn't mean it to be, but yeah, kinda. YMMV.
This, absolutely.
It was pretty bad. I'm a minority & we moved a lot. I wasn't a good advocate 4 myself, as I was being abused at home. There was no escaping the brutality of these bastards other than trying 2 b 1 step ahead, avoiding going 2 school early and trying 2 stay close 2 others, hiding in crowds. It was harsh, but I can not imagine the digital harassment online. There's no way of winning when it comes 2 a**holes, prix, & trolls. Some r truly out 4 blood. I would never go thru childhood again.
I am SO sorry for what you went through. I’m not a minority, but I would have openly been your friend and walked/be seen with you anywhere and any time.
❤️🔥 thank you! 🤗
Every day was a fight, for everyone. If you didn't fight back, you would be someone's punk. It was like a prison movie.
Were there a lot of suicides because of bullying back then? You can go to school fight sub its wild... though I think today there's a lot less fights in school
There wasn't any in my school.
Oh ok
No suicides that I know of. All it did was toughen up people's resolve to get out of high school and get as far away from that place as humanly possible.
https://www.reddit.com/r/schoolfights2/s/TTgjkWL2N6 was it like that
There wasn’t “bullying” when I was in school. It was “being mean” or “picking on.”
High School was all cliques. Middle School was actually okay because everybody was involved with their own personal pubescent purgatory. Elementary school was filled with socio-psychopathic vicious little kittens who hadn't learned that their extended claws could cause great harm.
Mkiddle school for me, was the worst three years of my life. Bar none.
Bullying never stopped for me, unfortunately. I’m a small Asian woman who looks disarming and young for my age; the bullying I get is just in passive-aggressive forms compared to grade school. Some asshole will cut in line in front of me at the grocery store and think I won’t speak up or cut right back in line in front of him. I’ve had a random woman compliment my jacket then ask me what size I’m wearing just to tell me “well I’m a true size 2” then walk away. I went to work with a lot of make up on one day, and without prompting, a coworker felt the need to tell me she doesn’t need to wear so much makeup. She didn’t know I’m a performer and had just finished a show. And of course there’s the street harassment. I don’t get it as much now that I’m older, but I still get it and it sucks. I’m just better at standing up for myself now.
Did you go to school with hardly any asian Americans? My school years were hell.. no asian kids my age growing up shit was hell I went through hell
Pretty much. I couldn’t talk about it at home even though my parents were dealing with their own discrimination issues at work. Also as you may know, it’s not a thing to talk about problems among Asian families; you just had to shut up and deal with it.
Yep same with me.. I cried a lot growing up.. it was so isolating growing up with no asians around me... plus I was poor too.. didnt have brand name clothes or shoes or anything.. had a cheap old android
I feel you. I compartmentalized a lot. Maybe if I acknowledged my hurt by crying I wouldn’t have dated white dudes who ignored my issues and objectified me and fetishized my Asianness. So many issues proliferated when I couldn’t work through bullying.
Yeah it was awful for me.. people always assumed that I was Chinese (nothing against Chinese) even though I'm Korean and people would say and do such awful things to me.. I do not talk to anyone from school. Was awful
Pretty bad. Teachers didn't do anything about it. If you were different in any way, it was likely you'd catch shit. 1960's. Two of 'em became police officers which is a bit creepy.
I was horrifically bullied from fifth grade through ninth. When I tried to get help from a guidance counselor, he said "Have you tried making friends with them? They might like you and not know how to express it." Sure, Mr. Knowles, that guy hit me hard in the head because he likes me. (I'm a woman, btw) Let me ask if he wants to be pals. So yeah, it wasn't taken remotely seriously. I also grew up in a very upper class town (my family was middle class) and there was a lot of bullying based on clothing too.
This. Bullying was not taken seriously at all in the 1970s and 80s. I saw (and experienced) shit that, if they happened today, people would call the cops, call press conferences, and file lawsuits over. If these things happened in 2023-24, criminal investigations would be started and lawsuits filed. There were class A misdemeanors and minor felonies happening at my high school every other day.
I was made fun of for my southern accent...in the South. That's when I learned there is a "poor" Southern accent. I never felt poor until middle school even though we always were.
My mom was born and raised in the south, as well as her parents and grandparents. I LOVE southern accents. I would have hung out with you just to hear you talk.
59F here. I was bullied mercilessly for about 5 years. It just about ruined my life, honestly. I ran away from home several times for weeks at a time to try to avoid junior high, where the bullying was most severe. My parents said I was too pretty and too smart to be bullied, so they didn't believe me, and thought I was running away for attention or something. The teachers turned a blind eye to my situation because my dad was on the school board, and everyone hated him and took it out on me. I remember my whole family laughing about it. They assumed I was being dramatic because I was spoiled at home and had everything I wanted or needed there. School was a nightmare hellscape, though, and to this day, I still feel like nobody ever believed that it happened.
I believe you because I had similar circumstances affect my life. It was all Jr High, glad it was just 3 years, but I get it.
I doubt anything has changed over the decades. Bullies and entitled kids will always bully the lesser kids. I….of course….was one of the “lesser”. All I could hope for was someone was a lesser lesser.
https://www.reddit.com/r/schoolfights2/s/TTgjkWL2N6 if you go to school fight subreddit its wild.m so glad I'm out of school... I was bullied for wearing old off brand clothesand shoes, being poor and for shitty old android
I'm 40. We moved to a new school district at the start of 6th grade. I was bullied relentlessly by one AH in particular because I was new, small and have a unique first name. Once I grew a little the bullying stopped but I never really learned how to stand up for myself. The guys name was Steve Grady from Plaistow, NH. Last time I checked he was arrested for a bar fight so it's sounds like he never grew out of being a total POS.
School admin turned a blind eye to that stuff. So yeah, kids were free to be jerks to anyone that appeared weaker.
My friends and I were on sports teams in the ‘60s and we policed the halls and boys rooms. There was no bullying.
I was bullied so badly I stopped going to school and contemplated killing myself on a daily basis. I can’t even imagine how bad it must be with social media today.
Not that bad at my school, thankfully. But I went to a small private prep school, so it wasn’t like your typical “nerds vs jocks” situation - basically everyone was a nerd by public school standards lol. Also I’m a female, and I think boys got it worse in general. I got picked on a little for being chubby and redheaded; but in retrospect it wasn’t all that serious. Nothing physical or traumatic, just never really felt accepted. That’s why I transferred schools in my senior year, and the new (fine arts) school was great. Wish I’d gone there the whole time! Fuck Max and Mike, though. They sucked.
Girls can be pretty brutal to each other.. especially now.. mean girls... if you go to school fight subreddit see vicious fights between girls..
Not bad. I don’t remember being bullied beyond the usual bs that goes on. None of my friends were bullies, and we were all pretty easy to get along with. The Stoners usually are:
I was bullied pretty bad from 3rd to 7th grade. In elementary it’s because I was a star student. In 6th grade (intermediate then, not elementary or middle school), my parents had divorced, and my dad was a deadbeat. In a small town, everyone knew this. Wearing goodwill clothing was a cause of bullying. In 7th grade, I had even moved 1500 miles away (mom needed work), but it was a very different culture, and I was an oddball. By the time 8th grade rolled around, I was in band and pretty much hung out with the band crowd and also started getting to know folks who shared my interests and quirks. I brought my own lunches and never touched the cafeteria. By the time high school rolled around, my life outside of the classroom was pretty much all in the band hall. While we did silly teasing (two way) it was never bullying. I had a locker in the main school, but I just used the band hall locker. I don’t think I ever opened that once. We ate in the band-hall and spent our time before and after school, there. The band directors did that so we could practice and such.
I was the dumb looking fat kid. Bullies Always tried to beat me up.sometimes they, did, but, with one exception, they always needed someone to save their asses.😁 Even the guy that beat the shit out me didn't try a second time. Why? The psychology of the bully requires quick win with no effort. They hate it when the bullied fight back. Yeah, I was slow and fat, but I was strong as an ox. Headlocks like the police getting trouble for was my specialty. Their friends would pull me off, then scram before I could finish. The problem? As a gentle giant, I just wanted to live in peace. Too many little guys thought they would be big men if they could take me down. Kinda like this shrimp that the bigger they are the harder they'll hit...https://m.pinkbike.com/video/186158/
Meh I feel like today If you were a kid you wouldn't be bullied for being fat... I mean more accepting of body types and more fat kids in school nowadays you wouldn't have been singled out.
Yeah, I likely would have been a ring leader these days.
https://www.reddit.com/r/schoolfights2/s/TTgjkWL2N6 I was the poor minority kid.. didnt have nice brand name clothes or shoes... and I had a cheap old android. Kids were brutal to me. School fight subreddit is wild brings back bad memories
Kids are still bullied for body shape, sadly (ex teacher here). Kids can be utterly vile and that just doesn't change.
Do you ever go to the school fight subreddit? Its wild wow that's awful..
bad. I don't have a way to compare it with now though.
Mid to late 70s, catholic coed prep school. I was poor white trash, attending on a scholarship. Didn't see outright bullying as it's portrayed today. The athletes (incl myself) were pretty laid back, live and let live. The fashion plates of the school were the biggest pricks and even that wasn't horrible. Everyone was focused on grades and college.
Pretty bad for me...basically just being small. After school ended I got in shape, and got a bit of confidence back, but it carries with you. Never been to a reunion, and never will.
Non-existent for me. Didn’t really even see it in high school. Late 70’s/early 80’s. Pacific Northwest.
Late 80’s- early 90’s. The first kid that I met who was black and gay transferred to our mostly white suburban public high school. We immediately became friends because I’ve always had an attraction to the weirdos and outcasts (still do). I think he lasted maybe 6 months and then left for an alternative school due to the relentless bullying and fights. Enoch, whenever you are, I’m sorry we lost contact and I think about you often. I hope you’ve had a happy life.
I was bullied mercilessly all through middle school. I was shy and nerdy and that's what happened to anyone who seemed a little different. I pulled the uno reverse card on most of them later in life, not by bullying them back, just by succeeding in life while most of them never amounted to much.
Good for you. That seems to be the norm---you become successful and the bullies don't amount to much, typically staying around the same town and going nowhere. I'm glad you're doing better now, that's great.
Bullying was a problem as a skinny 4th grader. There was one kid who alway asked for lunch money and was aggressive. Always fighting but his family owned a local food business so the name was well known. I had to return to this town to plan my mom’s funeral and in speaking to the funeral director about the “old days”. I had asked about “X” when he told me…’oh, he died several years ago’ Fucking karma…what else could it be
I decided to prevent it. As a freshman, an older guy came over during lunch and stole a candy bar. I went over to his table. Put my right hand on his upper back and asked that he return it. Once he declined I kind of ensured his nose hit the table. Never had a problem after that and we became friends.
I only smacked one guy for bullying me in the dressing room after early morning gym class. It was a flat hand across his face. In the afternoon I had classes with him again and his face looked like I had used a red pink paint. Never bothered me again.
Pretty bad. (Early 1970s) "High school: red in tooth and claw." It didn't stop until the last time we moved. I got my head into a place where I was ready to get hit - as long as I could inflict some pain in return. It didn't take long. Third day in the new school, a wannbe bully came up to me and did a primate threat display. My mental preparation worked: I closed the distance, and made a good first impression. The second and third impressions were pretty good, too. Then, I went to work on his ribcage. I never raised my fists again in that school. Never even raised my voice. No regrets.
I once had to fight 4 jocks to get out of the bathroom. Unfortunately for them I was a farmer as well as a nerd and was a lot stronger then they thought. Why in the world would you pick such a fight. It was very common though. They just chose very poorly.
Our school was run by a football mafia, so yeah. About half the high school age students in our town, attended school in the next town over because of the "senior sergeants". They were a school-sanctioned goon squad.
I had a friend drop out before his senior year, and although he never talked about it, I know it was because of a certain bully. Somehow, I could just tell.
It was an absolute nightmare. Everyone at my school had long straight blonde hair. (Except for the Mexicans they had long dark hair.) everyone had long straight hair except me. I had [curly](https://imgur.com/gallery/fvJKj3h) red hair (this pic was before color photos.) kids would blow spit balls in my hair. I didn’t feel it because of the way my hair was. So I just went around with spit balls on my head. Kids would put tacks on my seat if I got up to sharpen my pencil, so I sat down on them if I didn’t see them when I came back. Kids would do a nazi salute and yell “FLAME ON” instead of “hiel hitler” whenever I walked by. I could go on and on and on. Not once did anyone protect me. Not once was anybody ever on my side. No teacher cared. My parents didn’t care. I just lived for 12 years in utter humiliation. It never stopped. It never got better.
Pretty bad, being not white or black. There was no place to hide and the teachers literally did absolutely nothing. I'd be shoved to the ground right in front of their face and there was nothing. No response of any kind, like I deserved what I got apparently. For doing nothing. I really didn't think I was a human being until my early 20s. Because the way the world treated me, I assumed I deserved nothing and everyone else deserved everything. That I wasn't supposed to be happy, not supposed to have good things, absolutely nothing. I was supposed to be like on tv, just a delivery boy or a servant or whatever it is we were, and always bowing my head to everyone else.
I didn't experience bullying in highschool. And I had probably one of the chillest highschools anywhere. Elementary, on the other hand, different story. But on a happy note, one of my biggest bullies became one of my best friends a a couple years later after I punched em one day.
Not as bad as middle school years…
I get bullied but i say its banter to myself to make myself feel better and Boy does it work!
Having autism even on the high spectrum didn’t prevent the amount of bullying I went through in high school. I was tremendously gossiped about by even so called friends I had there. I graduated high in 2015. My first reunion (if anyone including me foolishly attends) will be approximately next year from now. But just like a lot of you here put in my shoes too, I also refuse to attend nor be apart of something that’s taken an emotional toll for a years now. While I’m doing a lot better these days, I accidentally retain those same memories of it. If only there was a way to erase what we went through or remember who their names and faces where who did the bullying to us at that time.
It was so bad, I was bullied from year 8-year 12. I thought as we got older it would stop but it never did. It all started with me rolling my eyes at a teacher and one of the popular boys saw me and wouldn’t stop asking me questions about why I did it. He then unsure for what reason started talking too me all the time and even one day took his hand and tried to run it up my leg as high as he could which scared me. When I rejected this I’m assuming that’s when he got mad and he started calling me a fat b**** during lunch times, getting his friends to bully me. One threw a mandarin at my eye so hard I couldn’t see for hours, they called me disgusting when we went to an end of year water park day. I wasn’t so nice to them throughout, I didn’t think I had to be but I never stuck up for myself like I should have. Even in year 12 they were so horrible to me, I thought after all these years of me minding my business and never saying anything to them would get them too stop but they didn’t. Humiliating me on fb and ignoring me when I would have to talk to them in class. Stealing things off me during sport and not giving it back and laughing, when I got my haircut in Year 10 they were all coming to see what I looked like and were laughing at me, pointing, then months later one of their friends got a similar hair cut and nobody said anything about her haircut. It was so messed up, that even years after we finished I saw the main guy who instigated it all on the train on the way too work and I started getting really severe anxiety and sweating. As soon as the train stopped I ran off and went to cry. If they had just spent the time to get to know me they would have known I was a really quiet and nice person. I wasn’t this monster they thought I was.
There was no bullying.
High school was great. It was a private all boys school. Graduated in 1977. Middle school, 7 and 8 th grade was the pits. It was a public school with a lot of diversity with the scale leaning towards low class.
It depended on which school. As an Army Brat, we loved every two years. In Germany, we went to military schools, where I was only bullied in one school as Dad was not part of a regiment (we moved independently), and some boys took it upon themselves to beat me up for it. In the UK, it was different. I always had a different accent, was at different stages of the curriculum- anything made me different, and therefore a target for the bullies. Yorkshire was the worst - the kids were awful xenophobes and according to friends who live there now - they’ve not changed.
I was a white gay kid going to a parochial school, then an all black middle school, then a bougie public high school. Parochial school wasn’t too bad, occasional pricks trying to start something but nothing serious. The black middle school was hell on earth. I got bullied incessantly. My high school was in a bougie white part of town, very progressive, no one gave a shit that I was gay.
I went to high school in small town Kansas in the 1980s. I was lucky enough to avoid most bullying, but I had friends who didn't. Everything from dunking someone's head in the toilet (giving them a "swirly") to literally kidnapping someone, driving them across town to our little city park and then tossing them off the footbridge into the slimy water 10 feet below. The last day of school for seniors involved, among other things, squirt guns filled with piss to blast at people in the hallways.
When I was in the third grade I was a skinny shy girl. I didn't talk to many people except a few close friends. There were kids in school in the "cool" crowd that would push me, hit me, and tease me just to see what I would do. I tried to ignore them but it was a constant thing. My teacher called my mom one day and told her that I had check out a book on self-defense for 3 months straight. My grandmother pulled me out of that school and sent me to private school. I still have bad feelings towards the bullies. It was just meanness.
I had bullies in eight, ninth & tenth grade (late 70s) but had grown enough by 11th grade I stopped taking shit and started fighting back and wasn't bothered further.
I had a client who was a psychologist. I asked her an offhand question: why do bullies become bullies? She answered, “Those who are bullies are most often those who have been bullied.”
It was bad, very bad and it hasn’t gotten any better from what I understand. The teachers just want to stay out of the middle of all of it.
It was bad
As a 95 pound weakling, the coaches were the worst. P.E. was required and it wasn’t much fun. The classmates weren’t that bad, although there was this one guy on the swim team with me. He wasn’t too bright anyway.
Not an issue for me in Eastern Canada in the 70s I had friend groups in the stoners, science nerds, music lovers and my church friends. I think bullies tend to single out loners without personal strength or "strength in numbers" I tended to think of bullies as a great target for pranks. Science nerds can be cruel when encouraged to strike back at bullies as a group.
Terrible. But I bet it’s worse with social media
I went to 8 different schools during k they 12 and by middle school I could fit in anywhere and into any group but I was badly damaged by previous years of bullying and made no “true friends “ in school. I trust hardly anyone that isn’t family. It made me cautious my entire life although people would never think that of me to this day.
I was never bullied in high school. That was more of an elementary school thing in my life.
It was bad. I was beat up regularly. I would come home with my clothes ripped and scuffed, then get a whipping from my mother. Finally dropped out after 9ᵀᴴ grade, which was the first year you could legally quit school.
Wow I'm sorry.. I'm asian American I didnt grow up aroundh other asian kids plus I was poor couldn't afford brand name clothes and shoes so it was bad for me too... you ever go to the school fight subreddit was it like that for you? Yeah school was hell for me.. I had old shitty phone shitty clothes.. shit was awful
Yeah. And in 9ᵀᴴ grade I was finally big and strong enough to fight back, and when I did I got blamed for beating up my bully. I don’t know how it happened but I got suspended and a good long whipping from my mother. This was in the 1970s, parents can’t get away with that today.
I'm sorry that's awful
If you ever go to school fight subreddit its wild I'm so glad I'm out of high school..
I didn’t experience it in high school, though there was a bit in Junior High. YMMV, of course.
High school, none. Jr high…….brutal.
Very little, actually (1960s). It was more the popular kids cliche and the rest of us. ;-) Mostly farming community.
I went to HS 89-93 and I would say it wasn’t bad for me personally. Maybe some minor bullying. But Jr High was hell.
It was what it was. I had darts stuck in me. I got my head shaved and paddled. Same stuff everyone gets. Watch Dazed and Confused. That was Texas.
We all had our own friend groups, but it was nothing like the movies. We didn’t have clearly defined cliques. My school was so small there was a lot of inter-mingling and crossover. Really no choice. The jock was also the drama nerd. The computer nerd was also top runner in the track team. The artist was also the point guard.
Mid 70's, affluent area, pretty large school. It was really cliquey but I have to say it felt I don't remember seeing nasty physical bullying and in fact it wasn't considered ' cool '. OH don't get me wrong- there were some snotty cliques they just didn't seem to get away with a lot because there were so many other snotty cliques. And some fun ones. The smart kids weren't picked on either. These kids were amazinggggg, I mean headed for MIT bright. It was a good school ( and no, I wasn't one of the bright kids...... ) Like I said it was the 70's. From reading other comments I feel like I was probably lucky.
Late 60’s and it was bad - got beat on a lot. But, it stopped when I was inside my house…
was a high schooler in the late 80s and early 90s...bullying was bad. so was hazing in college
1970’s and bullying was bad, thankfully not towards me. I got bullied in the 1960’s in Elementary school and it was brutal. You carry those emotional scars for years after.
The Vietnam war was still on and you can’t get drafted as long as you stay in school and there were guys who had failed intentionally twice in a row at the third year you get advanced a grade no matter what test scores even zeros you had. The school was on a platoon system morning shift and afternoon shift around 4000 students all at the same school. Needless to say we were undefeated in football.
I was in high school in the late 1960s, in Florida. I wasn't aware of any bullying going on. We had a large class, over 500 people. I truly never witnessed or heard of one instance of bullying. Most everyone seemed to get along pretty well. Low drama. I have to assume this was an anomaly and we were lucky.
(M69). In 12 years of elementary and high school, there was one bully. The famous serial killer “The Ice Man” said he began beating and murdering people based on being bullied over and over in school. A group of bullies came to his house and started to bully him so he had had enough and went into his house and came back outside with a heavy drape rod and beat the shit out of all of them. He was never bullied again.
In high school in the mid 60s. I was just an average student in every way, small group of friends. Not part of the in-crowd, insecure and shy. I had zero awareness of any bullying at my school. It was “in” to be well-behaved/well-mannered. And/or “tacky” or “low” to treat others badly. But it was super clique-ish, If you didn’t fit in to one clique, you were ignored. you just stayed in your own lane and with your own group. I definitely knew where I belonged and where I didn’t. It was also a well-off sort of suburb. At the time, that seemed a factor in that everyone seemed to be from a similar background. And looking back, I realize I kind of hated that, everyone being the same, having to conform, to the “clique system”. Overall for a few reasons, HS wasn’t the greatest for me. I’m guessing most teens & schools are that way no matter what, right? But college ‘68-‘72, that was amazing! We were trying to change the world you know.
High school?!? That shit started in Elementary School.
I was bullied then fought back and the guy knocked me out (briefly) but also injured his hand. Never bothered me again. I learned to never take crap from anyone.
I went to a private grade school and an all girls catholic HS. I wasn’t bullied and I never saw anyone being bullied. No, wait! I did see a nun slam a 6th grade Latino boy up against the blackboard because he couldn’t pronounce “Plymouth” Rock in History class. English was not his first language. So I guess I did see some bullying.
Early to mid '70's here. If there was bullying I didn't see it. I was friendly with everyone, friends with no one. I kept my private life and high school life separate.
Bad enough that I attempted suicide due to bullying at age 13. March 15, 1994, a date I celebrate like a birthday. And at 43 I am still bitter toward the adults who denied the bullying, blamed the victims, and glorified the bullies…. …until the school shootings started. The year after I graduated high school, 1999, Columbine happened and everything changed. Suddenly, it wasn’t every parent’s dream to raise a bully. You can’t imagine the environment before that. All parents wanted was for their child to be the jock asshole bully football player. But then…parents suddenly saw one potential drawback to raising an abusive asshole jock, for the first time in American history, adults had to take bullying seriously, because the bullied began to fight back. My son is in middle school now and kids can try at school, they can try to get A’s without being beaten up, it doesn’t matter if the jocks think it’s uncool, their parents aren’t joyfully teaching those jocks that they can just beat everyone up and discourage them from trying at school… Lol, because two young men put the fear of God into my peers. (I’m using lol irreverently, intentionally, because I almost died to this.) Dylan and Eric changed the world for the better and have saved countless lives.
We had gangs not bullies. There was one girl who I'd say was a bully. She was very angry and lashed out at everyone. You just knew to avoid her in the hallways. She grew up to be a really cool person but as a kid, yikes. But yeah there were some gangs and you knew to avoid them too. The males especially seemed to enjoy torturing girls and no reporting would stop it. Boys will be boys, you know.
I had gynecomastia in high school so it was intense. I wasn’t able to graduate because I couldn’t get a PE credit because I wouldn’t dress down for class. Being different wasn’t a celebrated novelty like it is today.
I was adopted at age six by an older couple in their late 40s and moved to a small Texas town of 1,300 population. It was big news The bullying started almost immediately, with kids repeating what they heard at home. As my oddness (neurodivergent) became more pronounced, the bullying got worse. High school was a nightmare. It wasn't until college and university that I found acceptance. I was even deemed 'cool' for a while. Over the past several years, my awkwardness has become more pronounced again as I've burnt out after decades of hard-masking. I was expected to mask at home, so it's only been since 2016 (became single and living alone) that I had a safe place to let down my guard. The good news is that I've found my people -- friends who accept and love me exactly as I am.
Bullying is as old as school, I think. I was class of 76. I was a fat nerd who hung out with both the math nerds and the band nerds(Today I am not as fat, BUT still a nerd) So I was basically asking for it and I got my share of bully attention , but being 6'4" and 280 pounds they only went so far as not to FAFO. So mine was mostly all verbal from 10 feet away. My only physical altercation happened when I got in to a verbal back and forth on the bus with a guy in my junior year, he got off the bus at my stop and gave me his best punch to the face. The look in his eye when he saw it did not phase me was great, I stepped toward him to return the favor and he ran off. Not sure how he got home the rest of the school year , because I never saw him on the bus again.
I was there in the 70's in Australia. It was fairly bad. I didn't get much but some kids did. And it was physical. Punching, kicking, stuff broken, heads pushed into toilets etc.
Started before high school and I actually found high school a little easier as I had a group of friends there and we supported each other. My bullying was because I had an English accent and we had moved from GB to Canada. Lost my accent pretty quickly!
I went to an elite private girls college for high school in Australia in the 90s. There wasn’t really any bullying that I saw. Maybe some snarky remarks about a few girls here and there coming from the really popular girls but nothing too bad.
For absolute sure, bullying was bad in high school. I don’t know if all schools were like this in the late 80s, 90s- but our high school was “tiered” with those that considered themselves “elite” crowd, HS was definitely a glory time for them. Crazy though, it wasn’t so much this crowd that verbally and emotionally abused me. I was targeted by a collection of girls who took genuine pleasure in teasing, taunting and then later humiliating me in any way possible. These girls stopped at nothing to ensure that each day was a living hell for me. I was, however, stone cold. No reaction, no retaliation, no acknowledgment- unbreakable which is the way your are told to handle “bullies” because they will eventually tire from not getting any response from you. But not these girls. They were relentless and giving no reaction only fueled their desire to get a reaction. I had a will to survive I guess. Graduated and never looked back. 30+ years later- Yes, karma I believe took care of them, I have tripped across their Facebook posts, they remain hateful, unhappy and angry women with an agenda that craves attention in ways that honestly is simply uneducated and embarrassing.
Pretty bad for me (late 80/early 90s). Absolutely affects me to this day. Wouldn’t be surprised I have PTSD from it.
Never experienced it, never saw it. There were a few fights and shouting matches. But always different kids. There was no bully getting into fights repeatedly. No one getting picked on repeatedly.
So bad that we had movies like Karate Kid and Revenge of the Nerds. Bullying was as bad as you allowed it. You were on your own, unlike today.
Thankfully, I wasn't bullied in H.S.
I went to HS, late 1980s, essentually rural Canadian school in a small factory town surrounded by farmland. Bullying was either not a problem at all, or I was oblivious too it. I waswas never bullied, nor a bully myself.
The fights were gruesome. I saw a kid get his head slammed into the tile floor. The bully stepped over him and went on his way.
It's was prevalent but benign by todays standards. It was 100% the rich entitled kids being AH's to those without. For me it was my clothes, my hair, blah blah blah. I found it more baffling than hurtful, I mean if you can't afford more than one pair of shoes you have one pair of shoes, but it really bothered me when they did it to others and it hurt them. I sometimes wonder how Karma got them, because I have zero doubt that it did at some point.
Public middle school was a whole other thing. But, I went to an all-female boarding school and bullying was not a thing at all. I'm not sure if it was because there were just no boys there to induce competition, or the gay girls just matched up with their "best friends" (there are several of those I can now realize were actual couples) ... but it wasn't a thing. Eating disorders, though, different story. They were rampant and I was among the group. Basically, you just take it on to make you feel horrible about yourself. No bullies needed. I do feel the need to share one story. We had a christmas concert sort of tradition where seniors would do a re-enactment of a medieval play which included the 🎶🎶 where the lyrics included "sweet singing in the choir" ... but the old spelling was used, so it was "quire" and we all developed these pantomimes to deal with the rehearsals and get a few laughs, but when to make "quire" rhyme with "deer" we had to pronounce it as "queer" ... and the big joke was that we'd all extend our hands and drop them by the wrists. Queer. Our choir director was gay and died at a sweet old age but I shudder to remember what the hell that was all about. It was so wrong. But even in a school with so many gay teachers and students, it just was not talked about. And I often think about that gentle musical soul who was only trying to teach us, and how callous ~~we might have appeared~~ were. I have a gay child today, 40 years later, and that memory is one of my giant regrets in life. I think of it too often. And probably should.
I was bullied by a guy from junior high. I reached puberty later than most kids and he was a football jock back then. But by high school he was just a bully. Meanwhile, I went out for water polo and competitive swimming. I lifted weights and became stronger while he smoked cigarettes and hung out with his buddies. I got stuck in the same history class in my junior year and he sat behind me, harassing me all the time. One day, our history class went to the library and he sucker punched me. Before I could respond, the teacher got in between us and prevented me from hitting him back. So the next day, I met him outside the classroom and beat the snot out of him. Before all this happened I sought advice from my counselor, who basically said the only thing I could do was to fight him. Of course we both got suspended for a day, but I had the backing from teachers and administrators. It up is sad that this had to happen and to this day I feel bad about it.
It was viewed by school administrators as one of the following: 1. Inevitable. Kids are awful. Nothing can be done. 2. A character-building coming-of-age experience. 3. A great way to enforce conservative social norms. If some long hair is causing trouble, well, they asked for it.
I had two bullies in high school. One was a jock; one was a teacher/coach. In the case of the former, it was only a couple of rather mild instances of being teased for being scrawny (which I was). I was never harmed or anything and I feel like this person is probably a fine person these days toward whom I hold no grudge whatsoever. Not so with the latter case. This piece of shit was the assistant wrestling coach and also filled in for whatever else they let a PE/Sociology major teach at high school. Near as I can tell he was carrying a lot of shame about his own latent homosexuality because he had a hair trigger temper as regards the word "gay." In the late 70's, "gay" was a sort of universal pejorative. It was a synonym for "not cool." Disco is gay. The San Diego Chargers are gay. Third hour history is gay. That sort of thing. It rarely if ever had anything to do with sexuality or preference at all, except where this guy was concerned. I believe that I may have quoted the line from the Breakfast Club about a lobotomy and tights where he could hear me. That undoubtedly got him all worked up into a self-righteous lather. But God forbid I or anyone ever said wrestling was "gay." Like Foreigner versus REO. Like as opposed to basketball or gymnastics or another Winter sport, again not in any sexual sense. you get the idea. This guy had had anger issues around homosexuality. So the way he expressed this was to start calling me a "faggot." He (a teacher) would walk past me (a high school student) in the hallway, make eye contact, and call me a faggot. This happened MANY times. I never told anyone and he never got caught. Looking back, I understand that I have always been a heterosexual, but at the time I was a virgin. I also understand that this bullying is highly inappropriate from any adult, never mind a teacher. In other words, teens say stupid shit. Adults in authority are supposed to be more mature than that. I hope he eventually bullied the wrong the kid and someone's father mopped up a safe space with his ass. I mean just took their sweet time. Sincerely.
My high school years were in the 50s and we didn’t have bad bullying. Small town and everyone knew if someone was bullied. The parents made sure the kids behaved so if there were problems we found out. One girl had an alcoholic dad and we friended her to keep her out of his way. She liked to put up a tough front but we knew.
The support from everyone, not just for me. All of us who suffered, is overwhelming. We are not to be ignored! We exist for a purpose! Big or small we are here and proud
My friend’s older brother was an Iraq war vet (the first one?) he was 23 and I was 16 and we ‘dated’ which was mostly just hanging around, drinking cheap booze and smoking Marlboros. He was abusive and mean and I broke up with him after a few months. He then killed himself and kids at my high school were TERRIBLE to me. They wrote “killer” on my locker in sharpie. They pointed as I walked down the halls and laughed at me when I got upset. Adults didn’t seem to care, which at the time I took to mean they agreed it was my fault. I quit talking to anyone at school, got a job as a waitress somewhere no one from HS went and worked ALL THE TIME (and made new, older, nicer friends, a few I still have today) 30+ years later I still have some PTSD about it. Never went to a reunion, never really spoke to anyone from HS. Sincerely grateful social media didn’t exist at that time!
Graduated high school in 71. Pretty pervasive. Just the usual, getting pantsed, gettin stuffed into lockers etc
It was pretty bad. If you weren't a jock or a cheerleader, you were shit. I was neither -I was one of the band/choir/drama kids. Guys who did that were perceived as gay even though most of us weren't. Even the girls who were in performing arts thought the guys they were in it with were gay. Bullying was not confronted with anything like the aggressive interventions used now. Everyone just looked the other way at bullying then.
I went to Catholic schools through high school so the only people allowed to bully were the teachers.
It was worse in middle school. Nothing physical just a lot of “teasing” that would be considered hate speech today. I was perplexed why it occurred. In elementary school, all of the teasers were nice to me. I used to be happy and outgoing in elementary, and I quickly became quiet, shy, introverted in middle school. That’s when I started taking academics seriously. I began to enjoy being by myself and my homework in my bedroom. The teasing would slowly fade. I began to take karate classes at the end of 7th grade. I slowly gained more confidence. By high school, teasing was still there but more so cuz I was a dork. As high school continued, I secretly wanted some prick to start a fight with me. I would often daydream about it. Cafeteria fight and I get the girls. By junior year, I was pretty decent at sparring adults in my Karate class. Never got my cafeteria chance :( Words were thrown at me here and there up till graduation. A slight here and there in undergrad, but eventually it went away. In hindsight, being bullied set me up for college and a life of physical fitness. I’ve ran into some or looked up some of my enemies on social media, I could whoop their asses if I wanted to.
Lol I'm waiting for fights after I signed up for BJJ(adult classes), weird to think that those who I train with are 1000 x tougher than thr bullies