Abstract
Drawing on semistructured interviews with Canadian Grade 4 to 12 students, this article uses a feminist lens to explore gendered and sexualized bullying and cyberbullying among children and youth. Our findings indicate that while boys’ roles and behaviors were frequently made invisible, girls were typically spotlighted, blamed, and criticized. Girls’ experiences were often minimized and normalized by peers and linked to gender norms and stereotypes that were largely invisible to participants. The central theme of invisibility emerged, which encompassed and interconnected the three subthemes: (a) gendered stereotyping, (b) spotlighting girls, and (c) gender surveillance and policing. Gendered and sexualized bullying and cyberbullying were found to be part of a socialization process wherein girls come to expect gender-based aggression, violence, and inequality in their lives. This article makes explicit how bullying and cyberbullying are linked to societal norms that put girls at risk of harassment, violence, abuse, and discrimination.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 403-426 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Youth and Society |
Volume | 52 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Apr 2020 |
Keywords
- bullying
- children
- cyberbullying
- gendered
- sexualized
- youth
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Sociology and Political Science
- General Social Sciences