Posted by Christopher Gagne on September 6, 2019
Different Types of Bullying
In a previous blog, Bullying: An Introduction, we offered an overview of bullying and identified four types of bullying: Emotional, Physical, Relational, and Cyber.
Each of these deserves more attention. This blog will focus on emotional bullying.
What is Emotional Bullying?
Emotional bullying involves the intent to make someone feel bad about themselves, to undermine the target’s self-esteem. It can take many forms.
One way is a social embarrassment- ridiculing or humiliating the target in front of others. There are many examples.
– Making fun of someone’s appearance.
-Ridiculing their intelligence or mannerisms.
–Labeling someone as stupid, ugly, etc...
–Racist slurs.
–Sexually aggressive comments
Emotional bullying can be more discrete than public humiliation. The bully might even forego verbal abuse in favor of threatening gestures.
–Shaking a clenched fist as he passes his target in the hallway.
–A finger across his throat in a slashing gesture.
–Hovering over the target in a threatening manner.
These silent gestures can be just as devasting and scary as the more public displays.
Emotional bullying can accompany or evolve into physical abuse. It can also happen through cyber channels – texting, social media, email, etc…
In future blogs, we will explore the other forms of bullying then begin looking at practical steps to prevent and deal with bullying.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome!
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