Comments on: Meddling Auntie presents Bullies

By: Tory

Tory — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:03:17 +0000

Mamacita Maxima – Yelling is excellent for assaults or creeps from strangers, but I can’t see this as a solution for a kid getting bullied. When you have to go to school with your attacker, you need long-term solutions. And self-defense works. Fortunately a bully is a different thing from a murderer.

freethoughtmom – I like your ideas about anger. I’m working on a comic about feelings — having them, recognizing them, expressing them — and I hope to explore the broader scope of dealing with anger there. Thank you for your feedback!

By: freethoughtmom

freethoughtmom — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:47:18 +0000

Hi Tory, I like your drawing style, how you get expression out of a set of eyes!

Why do you think that (male) bullies have low self-esteem? Isn’t it more likely that s-word again, shame? (you’ll see what I mean by googling ‘bullies self-esteem’).

Have you ever heard a teenager with the ability to say ‘I am angry with you because …’? Usually we teach our girls to “nicely” suppress anger and not voice it. The book _Odd Girl Out_ brilliantly makes the case that this is the cause of female verbal bullying that we all remember from middle school.

Thanks for listening.

By: Mamacita Maxima

Mamacita Maxima — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:39:45 +0000

Not so sure about the fighting back, except in extremis. I mean, what happens when the bully takes that as a cue to pull out a shiv? I recommend bellowing like a banshee. If nothing else, it draws attention to the situation and it’s amazing how people are deterred by facing a maniac.