ABSTRACT: Joan Edison came to the sixth grade at a school in Olinger, Pa., from Baltimore, Md. She had a thin, pretty face & long hair, and everybody hated her. Charlie decided that, to gain popularity with Stuart Morrison's gang, he would have to plague her like the rest. He did this. One night he had a dream about her & realized he loved her. He came to class & announced this but nobody was much interested. When he saw her walking with Stuart Morrison he realized that everybody really loved her even though they had seemed to hate her, and that she was queen of the class.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1949777&forum_id=2#20701643)

but once they are in high school, basically, no.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1949777&forum_id=2#20701659)

The results may seem counter-intuitive, but Lindsey Leenaars, the author of the study and an educational psychology PhD student at the University of Alberta, said she expected the results. She said that while girls who are seen as attractive are expected to be popular, they’re also seen as competition among other girls for the attention of boys - and experience a 35 per cent higher risk of bullying.

“Other girls can use this type of aggression to knock those girls down a bit and eliminate those girls as competition,” said Leenaars, who analyzed the data with two professors from Ontario’s Brock University.

In contrast, the study found males who consider themselves attractive are 25 per cent less likely to experience indirect victimization.

But some Edmonton Public Schools employees aren’t convinced by the numbers.

Shannon Smith, a counsellor at Eastglen High School, said the findings don’t support her experiences with students.

“I would say that that’s a real oversimplification of . . . teen body issues, self-esteem issues, even their sense of what’s attractive,” said Smith.

The study used data from a 2003 survey of 2,300 Ontario students, aged 12 to 18. It asked students questions about sexual activity, social problems, friendships and how they rate their attractiveness.

Unlike verbal or physical bullying, indirect bullying targets the teens’ reputations, Leenaars said.

She said the study’s findings don’t necessarily contradict the common expectation that attractive people are popular, illustrated by teen movies such as Mean Girls.

“In that movie, too, you do see that those girls are subject to rumour and people didn’t like them and were jealous of them,” she said, adding that 50 per cent of the time, victims of bullying also engage in bullying themselves.

Leenaars had a few ideas to explain why females and males experience such a drastic difference in the effect of physical attractiveness on bullying.

“With boys, it’s more about resources and physical strength than just appearance,” she said. “Also, maybe together with that, is that boys tend to mature a little slower than girls. So for boys, it may be that they’re using different forms of aggression, still.”

Older teens aged 16-18 who are sexually active are also at a 35 per cent increased risk of bullying, according to the study, which was published in the March edition of the online journal Aggressive Behaviour.

Larry Tibble, with student services at Edmonton’s Queen Elizabeth High School, said rumours are a common way sexually active teens can be victimized.

“If people are out there as being (sexually) active, then all kinds of people can speculate on what that might look like, or who that might involve,” he said. “There’s a lot of projecting my interpretation onto someone else’s behaviour.”

Leenaars said the study highlights the increase of indirect victimization among teens in general.

“We’re seeing a huge increase in this type of aggression, especially in males,” she said.

Smith said technology is making bullying worse.

“There’s a lot that goes on in this new world, with the world of the Internet, that we can’t begin to understand or catch up with,” said Smith, adding technology has raised bullying “to the highest levels of maliciousness.”

Text messages and social networking sites such as Facebook allow for more secluded and widely communicated bullying, Tibble said.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1949777&forum_id=2#20701789)

Have you ever seen Mean Girls?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1949777&forum_id=2#20701804)

there were at least a few people who knew what was happening - we thought it was a joke but it escalated, she almost reported it to the dean but didn't.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1949777&forum_id=2#20701824)

You don't have to believe me, but she was picked on every day and because she developed earlier than other girls was often called a slut or a ho because of her boobs. In high school, she faced the same issues and became very guarded in bitchy.

It's really a classic case -- a lot of girls who are "hot" or who develop earlier than other girls face a lot of criticism and are treated poorly.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1949777&forum_id=2#20702252)