Bullying’s history is long, but awareness of the problem’s severity didn’t begin until the 1990s in the US when researchers began actively studying the issue. With increased research, bullying began clarifying as discrimination fueled by a power imbalance, allowing children with a stronger social position to harm those of lesser status using violence and ridicule. Despite increased awareness, bullying is still downplayed and often ignored by adults mainly because this abuse is a function of teaching people to discriminate: mainly Christians.
Why would a Christian parent see anything wrong with their child ostracizing LGBTQ peers when their religion tells them this is acceptable?
Most Christian parents don’t see anything wrong with their child’s bullying. In the US, the majority of bullied kids come from underprivileged, nonwhite, LGBTQ, and non-Christian upbringings, the same groups who experience the highest rates of discrimination and racism in adulthood. This fact clarifies bullying as a problem of systemic discrimination and classism manifesting in children of the dominant social class: white Christians.
Bullying’s causes of class and privilege hide within a school’s social microcosm that functionalizes discrimination under the guise of “popularity,” making the problem seem less about prejudice and more about social status. This semantic difference quickly ends once school completes and Christian children enter the world as bigots and racists.
Despite the fact most bullies are white, straight Christians, the misinformed believe bullies are delinquents, typically poor kids from bad families. Christians argue that bullies exist in all-girls schools or predominantly black schools, and while this is true due to classism forced on children, the bulk of bullies are still white Christians for being the dominant group.
In the US, bullies are mainly Christians, training to be adult bigots and racists.
***This story is a summary of my article Bullying: Training for Adult Bigotry & Discrimination, which contains more details about bullying.
Photo by Obie Fernandez on Unsplash
