Sticks and Stones by Emily Bazelon
Sticks and Stone Cover
Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy
by Emily Bazelon is a book depicting the seriousness of bullying in the modern world. In her book she explores the reasons behind teenage bullying and how tramatic it has been for the victims. She uses 3 different kids as case studies to examine the bullying phenomenon.
Bullying has caused a lot of pain and suffering for the victim and their family. In certain scenarios the authorities and school administration play down the seriousness of bullying that it resulted in the victim taking her own life, having to change schools and moving to stay in another state to get away from the toxic community.
Taunting a teenager because he/she doesn’t seem to “conform” to the norms and wants to be himself, for his/her choice of gender preference and wanting to be different from others has had drastic consequences. Many of these individuals suffer from depression or other forms of mental problems. Some turn to drugs or even self mutilation to release the tension that they face. Sometimes it gets all too much especially if they are unable to get the help that they need and they terminate their life prematurely.
It is harder for the bullying to stop as now in this digital world many bullies can hide behind the shroud online and torment their victim 24/7.It can be a vicious cycle if the problem is not eradicated from the root.
My thoughts
Many a times the schools and higher authority try to brush the issue under the carpet until the issue gets into court. There is only something really done to reduce and prevent the bullying and hate when legislation steps in. Sometimes it could be too late for the victim and his/her life is damaged beyond repair. Even spending years in therapy would not mean that he/she would be able to live a normal life after being removed from the toxic environment.
It is really unfortunate that this problem of bullying has ballooned to epic proportions in certain countries resulting in mass massacre on school campuses with innocents killed.
It is really important that as parents we teach our kids(especially our boys) to respect and appreciate the women in their lives and support them in what they do. We have to teach them not to tolerate or condone any form bullying and not to be silent if it happens to them.
I found this book an excellent read and certainly recommend that you pick up your own copy today from Amazon.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book for review purposes. All opinions are 100% my own. This post has a compensation level of 3. Please visit Dominique’s Disclosure page for more information.
April 6, 2013 @ 2:15 pm
This is a topic that needs a lot of focus. Thanks for the review – will check the book out.
April 6, 2013 @ 3:01 pm
My heart goes out when I run into a young person who has been bullied. I hope that there is increased awareness of the triggers for bullying behavior: Also what situations cause the bullies to act in that way, along with suggestions on alternative behavior when the bully experiences a trigger,
April 6, 2013 @ 9:47 pm
This is definitely a big topic. Having kids in those teen and tween years, I can tell you that it’s an ongoing discussion in our house. I have found the tween years seem to be the toughest. Two of my kids have been bullied, and we talk about ways to handle it. In one instance many years ago, I called my son’s teacher about it, and she swept it under the rug the first time, saying they were good kids. Her response after the second time we called was to ask the class if anyone was being bullied and if they were, to raise their hands. I couldn’t believe it!!
April 7, 2013 @ 12:23 am
Wish they’d had such books when I was a kid. Knew plenty of bullies … and knew bullied ones too. Gee, who didn’t?
Happy A-Z! Visiting from the GBE 2: Blog On FB group.
April 7, 2013 @ 4:36 am
Our school takes Bullying pretty seriously and I’m so glad. If Bullying isn’t stopped they just grow up to be adult bullies – and I’ve had to learn how to deal with bullies as an adult as well! They are just more difficult to spot!
April 7, 2013 @ 8:33 am
@MelAnn,
thanks for dropping by.That’s good that your school is not ignoring this matter. Dropped by your blog 🙂
April 8, 2013 @ 6:19 am
Bully is such terrible issue in our society, but no one puts the focus on adults bully..They are the leaders for all school children..such as coaches. They are the king of controlling and mistreating their players, and allowing those that they choose to be their favorites to do the same to their teammates.
I hope one day we all open our eyes to correct and change the coaches’ power in school and on the field.