the lens through which this story has been framed is so, so upsetting to me. can we agree that 'bullying' is not synonymous with fucking gang rape?
i think the fact that the systemic victimization of certain demographics of children is finally being acknowledged is a positive thing, but yeah: 'bullying' is apparently way more palatable to jane q. public than, say, 'gang rape' or 'institutionalized homo/transphobic violence' or 'systemic misogyny' or even just 'child abuse'. no matter that it trivializes the lived experience of the people subject to the above. the semantics around bullying always seem to me half-apologetic, in a 'kids will be kids, but we should encourage them to do better' kind of way.
Well said, Erin. This case has been so horrifying and is especially prescient because it happened in Nathan's childhood neighbourhood of Cole Harbour right when we're getting ready to launch a lady into the world. It's a tough place to live and its brought back both the actual, correctly-labelled bullying he experienced and the sexual assaults of friends (both female and male) that he grew up with. This article on Slate exactly echoes your frustrations: http://shamelessmag.com/blog/2013/04/on-calling-things-by-name-rape-exploitation-and-v/
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i think the fact that the systemic victimization of certain demographics of children is finally being acknowledged is a positive thing, but yeah: 'bullying' is apparently way more palatable to jane q. public than, say, 'gang rape' or 'institutionalized homo/transphobic violence' or 'systemic misogyny' or even just 'child abuse'. no matter that it trivializes the lived experience of the people subject to the above. the semantics around bullying always seem to me half-apologetic, in a 'kids will be kids, but we should encourage them to do better' kind of way.
*sigh*
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Gross and barf.
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