Saturday, February 26, 2011

GLSEN: Victimization of Students

Hyperlinks: 

I read an article on the GLSEN website entitled

Shared Differences Examines LGBT Students of Color Experiences in School

by Elizabeth M. Diaz
Joseph G. Kosciw, Ph.D.

This article really raised the issue of the victimization of students "who identify as people of color and LGBT" (personally I do not like the way that is explained a person of color, are they blue?) I feel that this is so important because bullying in these cases doesn't have to be just about sexual orientation, but could also be about race now too. 

This author raises the issue of just simple bullying because of race: 



  • More than half of African American/Black, Latino/a, Asian/Pacific Islander, and multiracial students also reported verbal harassment in school based on their race or ethnicity. Native American students (43%) were less likely than other students to report experiencing racially motivated verbal harassment.



  • Then bullying because of sexual orientation:



  • Across all groups, sexual orientation and gender expression were the most common reasons LGBT students of color reported feeling unsafe in school. More than four out of five students, within each racial/ethnic group, reported verbal harassment in school because of sexual orientation and about two-thirds because of gender expression. At least a third of each group reported physical violence in school because of sexual orientation.

  • That strikes me in that statement is the PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. In this article, students reflect the death a student who was shot in 2008 for expressing himself by wearing woman's makeup and accessories. This article was posted a few days ago yet some people had no idea about this student being killed in 2008. It amazes me the violence that could come from one person onto someone with a different sexual orientation FOR NO REASON. He didn't do anything to the boy that shot him, yet was bullied for his sexual orientation. How can any student feel safe in the school with something happening like that? This article is about raising awareness through the death of this student and making people aware of the crimes committed against NORMAL people...and they are normal...no different than you and I. This article relates to the GLSEN article because the author of GLSEN says how violence occurs in most bullying. The violence can clearly lead to death.

    I came across this video on youtube and realized, the bullying doesn't have to just be coming from students, but the school faculty can also discriminate against those of different sexual orientation. In the video above, this young girl Charlene was revoked from going to a special Honor's retreat because a teacher had said she shouldn't go because she was a lesbian. Bullying is defined as a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people. This teacher intimidated her into thinking she had no power. She couldn't go, but she stood up for herself and fought because clearly this wasn't right.  This video relates to the GLSEN article because she is a different race and treated so unfairly for her sexual orientation. She loved her girlfriend, so she thought it was alright to be affectionate the way that any other person would be. She was picked on in the same way that the stats of GLSEN had stated. The author would have used her in the study that was taken.

    I'd like to talk in class about the different ways people can be bullied, not just by students but by faculty members and teachers. I'd like to talk about ways to avoid these problems and how to handle situations when you witness bullying.

    2 comments:

    1. It's always hard to say what you would do in a situation when you see that somebody was being bullied or harassed because they are LGBT. Should you say something? Stop it in the act? Or just let it go and not get into it because it may cause a bigger problem? I personally am not a person who likes confrontation, but I really would like to help in some way. I think it would be a good idea to talk to the LGBT person afterwards and let them know that they are loved by others and that just because SOME people are ignorant and rude and think that they are worthless, weird, or disgusting for being LGBT, that it isn't true because. They aren't worthless, weird, or disgusting,that they are people just like anybody else and they deserve to be treated like any other person. Judge a person on how they act based on personality, not on their sexual orientation.

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