MY STORY: LEADER
HOW GIRL SCOUTS HELPS GIRLS CONFRONT BULLYING By Aarohi Ghorpade Aarohi is a Cadette Girl Scout in Troop 4727 in Scottsdale. She is currently working on becoming a Silver Award Girl Scout and has prepared the following piece on teen cyberbullying in support of her project. Her project aims to bring awareness to this issue and how other teens and Girl Scouts can be part of the solution.
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id you know that 95% of teens are connected to the internet? And 85% of teens are active on a social media platform! In 2010, researchers Hinduja and Patchin conducted a study on cyberbullying and showed victimization per gender. At a glance, one can see that females, especially young women, are more likely to experience cyberbullying. In the case of young girls who have faced cyberbullying, there’s a common pattern; girls were being bullied based on their looks.
A significant number of teenagers are exposed to this threat. If we work together, maybe one day, we might be able to make the digital world a safe and enjoyable space for everyone.
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GIRL SCOUT
Connections
According to Verywell Family, an online library that gives reliable advice about pregnancy and parenting, bullying is more likely to occur between current or former friends or dating partners than with a stranger. Here is an example of this situation: Alice ended her friendship with her toxic friend Max. Max was infuriated. Alice was tired of Max’s controlling nature. Max started threatening Alice by telling her that she (Max) would tell the whole school about Alice’s secret. However, Alice followed her best friend Helen’s advice and broke friendship with Max. The next day, Max exposed Alice’s secret in an Instagram post. Alice was infuriated and embarrassed. Many former friends or dating partners might bully for revenge, wanting control over the other individual, wanting to show they were the one who ended the relationship or they have higher social status. What makes bullying even more problematic is when victims do not want to report abuse to their parents, who can take further steps to help them. Through ongoing
FALL 2020
