Over half of young girls, aged between 12 and 20, have been bullied, according to a new survey.
The Annual Bullying Survey 2017, conducted by Ditch the Label, found that 57 per cent of girls have been bullied. Nearly half of boys aged 12 to 20 who were surveyed also admitted to being bullied, while a shocking 65 per cent of transgender said they had been bullied.
One in five of these young people have been bullied within the past year; while one in ten said they had been bullied at least once in the past week.
Looking into the attitudes of bullying, those surveyed believed that their appearance, hobbies, or high grades were the main reasons for being bullied. Over ten per cent said that they believed they were bullied because of their perceived masculinity or feminity; while eight per cent said it was due to their disabilities.
Others had been bullied for their sexuality, their race, cultural identity, religion, gender identity as well as for their household income or because a family member or friend was also being bullied.
The report also found that Instagram was the worst social media site for cyber-bullying. Seven per cent of young people said that they had been bullied on the app.
Worryingly, 69 per cent of respondents have done something abusive to another person online, while 22 per cent said that cyber-bullying was just a part of growing up. Those surveyed held attitudes such as saying things online was less hurtful than in person; and that it was acceptable to send nasty tweets to celebrities if you didn’t like them.
Anti-bullying charity, Ditch the Label surveyed 10,020 young people across the UK and was conducted in partnership with secondary schools and colleges.
Ditch the Label’s chief executive, Liam Hackett said, “There is a trend towards people augmenting their personalities online and not showing the reality.”
“Cyber-bullying continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing young people.”
“Not only is the internet redefining the climate of bullying, but also it is having clear impacts upon the identity, behaviours and personality of its young users.”
