We’ve been discussing different types of bullying. We’re looking at individual tactics and why they work.
The classic type of bullying personified in movies and TV is physical violence. Examples include:
- Punching
- Kicking
- Pushing
- Spitting
- Pinching
- Slapping
When people think of bullying, this is the first thing that comes to mind. They imagine a big kid grabbing a smaller kid by the shirt and giving him a swirly.
This type of bullying is 100% overt. It is crude and unsophisticated. In this situation the bully doesn’t care whether anyone knows what he or she is doing.
In many ways it’s the easiest type of bullying to address because it’s a lot easier to identify. If the target has a black eye and is missing their lunch money, it’s fairly easy to track down the bully.
Since it’s so straightforward, this is probably the last time I’ll bring it up. There’s honestly not much to say. It’s unacceptable, but it’s also easy to identify. We have plenty of rules in place both in our schools and in our society to deal with various kinds of assault.
What’s more difficult to identify is emotional and psychological bullying. The next few posts are going to deal with these more covert types of bullying.
