Hey guys, so did you know it’s Anti-Bullying Week this week? Well it is! And we have been working our socks off to research bullying all around the UK. This is the Annual Bullying Survey, and this year we’ve decided to do it on the theme of Pride and Prejudice. Basically, we wanted to look at all the reasons why people bully, including one thing called unconscious bias.
Unconscious bias is something that we all have, and it means that we all have this little things in our head that make it easy to make snap judgements about people, based on our environment, the media, what our friends and family think, and just general opinions we have all formed in our past. This might mean we find it easier to judge people for being overweight, looking different to us, race, gender or ethnicity.
Anyway, here’s a super speedy summary of the report. Also, before you read on – this blog post contains some stats that some people might find difficult to read. If at any time you feel like you need help, you can get one-to-one support from one of our trained Digital Mentors here.
You can read the full report here.
Bullying Experiences
- One fifth of young people have been a victim of bullying in the past year
- 1 in 3 people witnessed bullying in the past year
- Bullying has the biggest impact on people’s confidence – 86% said it had affected it
- 45% of people have experienced depression as a result of bullying
- And 1 in 3 people have had suicidal thoughts as a direct result of bullying
- Physical appearance is the number one reason why people bully
- 69% of people have been bullied through verbal abuse in the past year
- 62% were bullied by a classmate
- But 72% of people did report bullying when they experienced it or saw it happen – which is awesome!
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But what about unconscious bias?
- When it comes to appearance bias, girls have a lot more – 31% felt strongly that unattractive people should make more of an effort with their appearance vs 18% of guys.
- Guys find it harder to accept genders outside of men and women – 56% agree that people are either men or women vs 31% of girls
- Guys also feel pressure to be strong and in control, but girls don’t feel that way about them – 20% agree vs 9% of girls
- Equally, they also think it’s more important for women to be gentle and caring than girls actually do – 24% agree vs 16% of girls
- About 1 in 5 agree that people from outside the UK should make an effort to adjust to our way of life and culture if they want to live here
- And 3 in 4 think that people with physical disabilities are just as intelligent as those without.
- Guys are more likely to feel uncomfortable around someone in a wheelchair
- 1 in 10 think that sex change operations should be banned
- And 9% think that LGB+ people use their sexual orientation to gain some sort of advantage in society
What do you think about our research? Leave a comment below and join in the conversation
Want to read on? Check out all our research here.
Have you been affected by any of the issues here? Reach out to the Ditch the Label Community here for one to one support from one of our trained Digital Mentors.
