Being a kid is rough. Sometimes you can't breathe the air around you without someone making fun of you for it.
What can make you a target is unpredictable. I was once made fun of for "having a face." Another kid was a target for watching anime. It just takes a little impetus from some jerk and all of a sudden it feels like the entire school is laughing at you.
u/thiqq1600 asked:
Here were some of those answers.
When It Was Cool To Be A Jerk
GiphyBeing the nice kid.
Always respected my teachers, tried not to interrupt the class, getting good grades and stepped up for myself and my friends.
But I guess there comes a time when supposedly "normal" students are marginalized - for no reason.
Pennywise
I was a poor kid on scholarship at a rich private school. My first roommate during freshman year was quite well-off-- her parents hired an interior designer to customize her portion of the dorm, her entire wardrobe consisted of expensive clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch and Victoria's Secret, she had tons of expensive name-brand makeup, and she had no qualms about buying and eating $10+ worth of takeout every night. Meanwhile I was working full-time to finance the rest of my education, had a second-hand computer, and could only afford the basics for my half of the dorm. Around mid-November, she apparently begged student housing to transfer me out of "her" dorm because my cheap clothes and decorating style "offended her."
I did end up switching to a different dorm room that spring because at one point, when I was out of the room, she stole what little cash I had out of my purse. Later on, she scribbled on all of my posters. She also spread rumors about how I was filthy and smelled bad because I was poor. The RA was not helpful; she had us fill out some survey about each other and basically said "not my problem." I went to student housing and they allowed me to switch to a nicer dorm room with a different roommate. The person who pulled me in became my roommate sophomore year and we are still close friends to this day.
Short, Then Tall
I was bullied in the 6th grade by the older kids for being short. Then when I saw them again in high school I had about 4-6 inches of height on them (I'm 6'4"). Also, I was bullied for my accent as I was born in western NC and had moved to south TX (predominantly Hispanic). I lost the accent within a year or so. Kids can be jerks.
Ohmygod, Shoes
I was in middle school and my soles were literally falling off my shoes and people talked about them. I tried to glue them back with glue and everything but it made them look worse. They were like $10 from Walmart and my mom couldn't afford to buy me new ones because she had to pay for the school supplies and fees for my other sisters as well. I also had to wear old pants from my previous years which turned into highwaters after a few washes.
But guess what? It turns out that was the best year of my life and now I'm in school to teach middle school.
An Unexpected Ally
Having adhd. I was the weird kid because I didn't understand social situations all that well due to the adhd. Then I was bullied for being upset about being bullied. The whole school was in on it. When I stood up for myself I got in trouble. So it was an impossible situation. Then I got cute in high school and had big boobs so suddenly dudes were hitting on me instead of bullying me. Like they forgot what they did and said lol.
Thankfully the other girls and I started to get along because we bonded over being sick of being hit on by creeps. When I exploded with rage in class over a dude taking pics of my boobs, I suddenly had people on my side when before they would have mocked me. So I guess boobs saved me. Thanks, boobs.
Poor Diction
The kid who couldn't say the letter 'R' until he was 18, which was convenient as I was the vice-captain of wugby, I was also in the wowing club for a year as the cox which is the person sitting at the end saying "Stwoke, stwoke, stwoke. Wow wow wow your boat gently down the stweam." And I worked at wed wooster (Australia).
No Way Out
I have a "heart" shaped face that looked pretty round with my baby cheeks as a kid. I couldn't tell you why — as I and the kid spearheading this are white — but I was frequently called nasty slurs for Asian and Native American folks due to my face shape and slightly down-slanted eyes. Nine years of that same "joke".
Other things of note (I was like, THE primary unpopular kid at my catholic K-8 gradeschool): my hippie parents were unmarried (therefore I was born of sin); my family didn't have a lot of money/tuition was a huge burden and there wasn't much left afterwards (no parties, no extracurriculars, hand-me-down clothes, etc); I wasn't allowed to wear deodorant until high school; I mostly wore boys clothes outside of school and played video games; I told a "friend" I had a crush on a girl (at the time I honestly didn't know sexual preferences even existed — I thought everyone was attracted to everyone); I was accused of being a witch; I ate mayonnaise; and my childhood nickname was more common among porn personas and pet dogs than it was for regular people.
Psyche Damaged
I was bullied for radiating victim vibes, or acting like a victim. No surprise that I was victimized. My father was a narcissistic bully, so all I knew was being bullied. At home, at school, everywhere really. By the time I was 18 I was a basket-case. All I knew about most human interaction was being bullied. I finally got away from my dad and started learning a different way to behave. I no longer attract predators, but it took me about ten years to get to a place where I could start behaving in a way that resembled being a mature, well-adjusted person.
YooHoo Shouldn't Target People
I tended to experience more isolated incidents of bullying over the years. One of the worst ones was from a girl I didn't even know really, she said made some innuendo about my mom's drinking problem something like so "so I heard your mom likes to party".
The one with probably the biggest lasting implications is where I got picked on for taking too long on some test. I still have to struggle really hard to control my anxiety when I'm feeling rushed. I got made fun of for sucking on Yoo-Hoo too long, I'm already dealing with the social isolation and I'm not even allowed to enjoy a damn Yoo-Hoo!
I had one bully tell me I would grow up to be a school shooter like if I was wouldn't you be at the top of the list?
I had one guy bully grab my butt and this was way before I even realized I was bisexual so that was weird. I think I was targeted because I was shy and not an athlete.
Wombo-Combo
GiphyI got hit with the marvelous wombo-combo of being tall, socially awkward, skinny af, having bad acne, and being gay. That last one not many people caught on to, though, and most of those who did didn't really think I was, which is kind of ironic. Luckily for me, by the time my last year of high school came around my skin cleared, I started to put on a bit of weight, and while I never had tons of friends, the ones I did I was always close with, so it got somewhat better.
