! This post hasn't been updated in over a year. A lot can change in a year including my opinion and the amount of naughty words I use. There's a good chance that there's something in what's written below that someone will find objectionable. That's fine, if I tried to please everybody all of the time then I'd be a Lib Dem (remember them?) and I'm certainly not one of those. The point is, I'm not the kind of person to try and alter history in case I said something in the past that someone can use against me in the future but just remember that the person I was then isn't the person I am now nor the person I'll be in a year's time.
The Illiberal Dumbocrat leader, Nick Cleggover, says that schools “must tackle homophobia” because 2/3 of gay people in school report homophobia.
Quite a shocking statistic that. You’d have thought it would be nearer 100% like it is with fat kids, thin kids, tall kids, short kids, clever kids, thick kids, rich kids, poor kids and pretty much any other kid that’s not “average”.
The only shocking or worrying thing about 2/3 of gay school children being bullied for being gay is that Cleggover thinks it’s unusual or deserving of special attention. It’s no more or less of a problem than any other form of bullying in school and should be dealt with in the same way as any other type of bullying.
Technorati Tags: Nick Clegg, Homophobia
maybe due educational failings, some kids think you can catch homosexuality by too close contact with them?
I remember the great releif in school at discovering being a lard ass was not some kind of god inflicted disease that was transmittable off toilet seats, maybe this is a message that needs to be broadcast in schools?
‘Being gay is no worse than being fat or stupid and like theses afflictions you cannot catch it off them!’
It won’t make any difference though, they’ll still be picked on because they’re different. It’s not a prejudice in the same way it is with adults, it’s just the way kids are. The bullies know what they’re doing is wrong, telling them it’s wrong some more won’t make them stop. When they grow up most of them will just accept homosexuality as seomthing that happens, usually to other people. You just cannot socially engineer a generation of children that won’t pick on other kids that are different.
People forget that underneath it all we’re just animals. We have adapted our lifestyles to somewhat control our animal instincts but the weak will instinctively huddle together for strength in numbers while the strong will dominate the weak to be at the top of the pack. Homosexuality is one of nature’s weaknesses – homosexual animals don’t reproduce. Obesity is one of nature’s weaknesses – fat animals can’t run away and get eaten by bigger animals. You get the picture. Adults are better at not being animals than children, that’s why most adults don’t go around giving people wedgies, pushing them in bushes and flushing each others heads down the toilet. But even adults will dominate someone who is weaker than them, whether they’re the nicest person alive.
I’m not condoning bullying – I was bullied from primary school, right up until I left secondary school. All I’m saying is that homosexual bullying is no different to any other type of bullying and any type of bullying is nothing more than a sophisticated version of what happens in nature with any other type of animal.
I left school about 15 years ago but I always remember a kid in the year below mine who was bullied mercilessly by his classmates. On one occasion after having witnessed him being assaulted I remarked about it to a teacher who replied “he brings it all on himself”. He didn’t. I do not know if he was gay but I do seem to recall that he was particularly mild-mannered. Now I grant you that Walsall could be a rough place in general but he certainly didn’t derseve the bullying or indeed the attitude of that teacher.
Likewise I had a best-friend who was somewhat overweight for his age. He used to get some terrible stick, sometimes quite literally. We often ran the gauntlett of youths and older brothers waiting outside the school at home time. Gangs were often quite a problem, particularly where knives and other implements were concerned. I can well recall being threatened with a knife and my pal more than once. We even wrote to the school inspectors at the time. Nothing was ever done. And this was at a so-called Church of England school. Today I am told that the Police have to patrol the streets outside the school to maintain order.
Looking back on those days I can only say that the bullying was bad enough if a kid was fat. If anyone had been known to be gay they would quite likely have suffered the most terrible and incessant bullying as did one or two who were simply thought of as gay. To have been gay would have meant victimisation, from not just other pupils but probably from the very teachers themselves. I can certainly recall one or two teachers in particular who were very homophobic and not afraid to say so.
Now, whilst I certainly believe that action should be taken to address all types of bullying, I would have thought that there may well be a particular issue regarding “homophobic” bullying. Particularly when I consider the comments of that teacher from my own school days. I suspect that things haven’t changed so much in 15 years as to have exorcised the “he brings it all on himself” mentality in its entirety. I suggest that on that basis it may be that a distinction should be made and that, dare I say it, Clegg may be right in his call for schools to take action.
Vaguely related to this is a report in today’s press which says that nursery staff should be on the alert for “racist” remarks among toddlers. It says that staff could be called on to investigate why a child said “yuk” in response to an unfamiliar foreign food.
A 366 – page guide published by the National Children’s Bureau says that “indications of racial prejudice may not always be proved as such” and that it is important for staff to investigate “to ascertain the reasons”.
It continues “A child may react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying ‘yuk’. This may mean a lack of familiarity …” or “more seriously a reaction to a food associated with people from a particular ethnic or cultural community”.
Now, preventing homophobic bullying is one thing but what about this type of intervention?
The racist toddler thing is a fucking insult – the woman who came up with that needs shooting.
I disagree that homophobic bullying needs a specific response. I don’t believe that homophobic bullying is any more of a problem than any other type of bullying.
My kid tends to say yuk to most of the veg on his plate. I don’t think its racism against vegetables though.
Did the story come from a credible source? – It does sound a bit like one of those made up Fleet street scare stories like the “Ba Ba Green Sheep” myth.
As for the gay bullying – studies show that gay teens are three times more likely to be bullied than other teens, but I think the solution is educating children to be generally more tolerant of differences rather than making sexuality a special case.
Whatpercentage of schoolchildren are helped to identify themselves as gay before they even know about life? Perhaps the gay mafia can supply the stats.
If kids who think they’re gay are encouraged by their teachers or school social workers to be open about it in the full knowledge that they are very likely to be bullied about it, should those people bear some of the responsibility?
Well said. Bullying about homophobia is no different from other forms of verbal and mental bullying. This is just a cynical stunt to appeal to the gay vote and it makes Clegg look moronic. No change there.
kids are evil little bastards, i should know, i used to be one but thats how they are
one day it was the fat kid who got it, the next day it was the spekky kid, the next day it was the glaswegian kid, the next day the english kid and the next the kid with the big head. when it was your turn to be picked on it was misreable but when you were picking person it was fine.
I’m sure none of us as adults are quite so physiccally aggresive as we were then but there is still the petty vicious sniping and name calling
we did not pick on the ginger kid as he was also the smelly kid and to pick on him meant getting close to him.
in primary 5, he once vomitted up a whole unchewed half tomato, quite impressive!
Would this kind of meaningless posturing have anything to do with the fact that Cleggover might be a queer?
Just wild speculation of course.
Might be? Didn’t he get caught with a rent boy or something?
“What percentage of schoolchildren are helped to identify themselves as gay before they even know about life? Perhaps the gay mafia can supply the stats.”
I’m not sure that I understand that. Do you mean that it’s possible to persuade kids to become gay? If you could it would be a pretty neat trick. Can you “cure” lesbians too?
NO child should have to live with bullying for whatever reason. Unfortunately, as Axel wrote, kids can be evil little bastards and will pick on whoever is that days scapegoat. I don’t think you can isolate any particular type of bullying without addressing tolerance in general
And no, I don’t think it was Clegg who was caught with a rent boy. Even if it was, as long as they were both old enough and any expenditure of public money was declared on his expenses would it matter? Don’t MP’s get a cash allowance for sexual deviancy anyway?
I know these days politicians all look like public relations types but you’re confusing Clegg with Mark Oaten, another iliberal none-entity who is evidently bisexual.
Clegg claims to have bedded many women, incidentally – which leads me to believe he’s covering up for something. His incredible dullness, of course!
And Stan – that reminds me of the joke:
– My mother made me a homosexual.
– If I gave her the wool would she knit one for me?
– My mother made me a homosexual.
– If I gave her the wool would she knit one for me?
Mine didn’t fit….
This is quite an old article but I think it’s interesting in light of the whole gay bullying thing. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_n730/ai_20139168
No, it’s not possible but I think I know what he’s saying. Personally I have never had any confusion over my sexuality – I’ve always been a heterosexual nymphomaniac – but it’s said that a lot of kids experience some sort of confusion over their sexuality during their teenage years. If those kids are encouraged to be homosexual by teachers or social worker types because they’re going beyond just saying homosexuality is nothing to be ashamed of and actually encouraging it then that confused kid could end up being manipulated (not necessarily deliberately) into deciding they are gay when really they are just experiencing this confusion that a lot of kids apparently experience.
most bullying is the same but being gay seems to be a very disgusting thing to bullies.From first hand I can tell u that gay kids are not just bullied but actually badly beaten.A fat kid gets called names or pushed around a little but gays are brutally attacked.I remember one kid had to leave my old school because some ass actually broke his nose because there was a rumour going round that he was gay.So maybe u would need to focus on this a little more than the other types of bullying and ofcourse Clegg was fishing for the gay votes,he is a supposed politican after all.