Bullying in females is a known problem these days, but many times it goes unnoticed by parents, teachers, and even friends. I never realized how real bullying was until it happened to me. There had always been issues between myself and some other girls in my grade, but sixth grade is when it really became an issue for me. I showed up to school to see the words, “Get a life loser, I’m talking to you BULLY!” in big bold letters across the front of my locker. That was the day when everyone realized the problem was getting out of control.

This act I experienced was just a phase of young pre-teen girls looking for a way to get their thoughts across. Luckily, I come from a small school that has a very strict zero tolerance policy towards bullying and this incident did not take very long to get noticed. Bullying between girls is a serious problem in this generation. Most girls however, are not as fortunate as I was. Some girls go days, months, even years being bullied and no one notices or does anything about it. I am not the only teenage girl that has been bullied, there are girls being cyber bullied, physically bullied, and verbally bullied every day. But we tend to forget, there are many solutions and ways to keep females safe from the bullying.

The problem with girl bullying is that it’s a personal situation. An article titled “Women-on-women bullying in the workplace” in The Grindstone from May 16, 2011 Amanda Chatel states, “Women are a jealous, catty group. We’re raised to pay attention to the other women in our life in a judgemental way.” Not only has this become a huge problem on the playground at school, it is now also an issue in the workplace. Statistics have shown that boys are almost two times more likely to bully, than girls are. However, there is much room for argument.  Boys are more physical and straight up with situations while girls tend to go behind the scenes, which is known as cyberbullying.
Along with cyberbullying, there is also verbal bullying and physical bullying. Over 38% of girls have admitted to have been bullied online while only 26% of boys admit to it. Statistics also show that people who have been cyberbullied are often bullied in person too.  Thirteen year old Zoe Johnson was a cheerleader who had just finished seventh grade at Kenowa Hills Middle School when she committed suicide. Zoe’s mother, Rebecca believes that cyber bullying led to the death of her daughter.  According to an interview on July 21, 2015 by Fox 17 News of West Michigan, Zoe had suffered many years of depression and her suicide was just a cry out for help. Women are known to hold in feelings and often don’t know how to express or talk about what they’re feeling which has been known to lead to suicide.

Physical bullying is also a major issue. It is mostly known to occur in males because of their need for dominance, but is also heard of in females. The main age group for physical bullying is middle school, due to the need for most children to fit in. Research done by “Make a Sound for a Voice Unheard,” in 2009 states that 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month. The main cause of physical bullying is believed to be from children watching it happen in their own home. Over 54% of students have stated that witnessing physical harm at home has lead to violence in schools.

Fourteen year old Ella Collins-Godden from Shoreham-by-Sea near Brighton was physically bullied at school after a boy started rumors  that she had told him she had been raped.  Ella had been homeschooled until middle school so she didn't understand why kids could be so immature. Things escalated very quickly for Ella, according to an article from Mirror News posted on January 29, 2015. Ella had experienced being chased home from school on many different occasions, was verbally harassed daily, and had also gotten her hair cut by one of her classmates while changing for PE in the school locker room. Now a pageant princess with over 30 titles, Ella Collins rose from the tormentors. Unlike most children, Ella knew that the behavior she was experiencing wasn’t normal, and began homeschooling again. Ella now spends her free time hanging out with her new friends and focusing on pageants.
Female bullying will never not exist, but we do need to put in more emphasis where we can.  There are many ways we can do that in our homes along with at schools. At home I recommend talking to your girls more on what is and isn’t okay when talking to peers and don’t demonstrate physical or verbal abuse in any way to other females. Most schools are pushing towards strict zero tolerance policies, but most schools don’t focus on the girl-on-girl bullying. During my situation it was easy for the teachers to take care of the problem because we have such a small school, but it is understandable that it would be harder for larger schools to keep track of what is going on. I say;  make sure you stop everything you can. Make sure the students know they can talk and that bullying in any way, shape, or form is not acceptable.