Bullying is wrong! It is unacceptable behaviour that makes the person being bullied feel afraid or uncomfortable. There are many ways that young people bully each other, even if they don’t realize it at the time. Many have a good idea of what bullying is because they see it every day! Bullying happens when someone hurts or scares another person on purpose and the person being bullied has a hard time defending themselves. So, everyone needs to get involved to help stop it.
Basic Info:Director: Charles Binamé; Writer: Teena Booth; Stars: Emily Osment, Kay Panabaker, Meaghan Rath, Kelly Rowan, Jon McLaren, Robert Naylor, Nastassia Markiewicz, Jade Hassouné, Caroline Redekopp, Ivan Smith, Ronda Louis-Jeune, John Maclaren, Marcel Jeannin, Bruce Dinsmore, Danny Blanco Hall; Filming Locations: Montréal, Québec, Canada (IMDB: Cyberbully (TV 2011))
Plot: The storyline follows 17 year-old Taylor who receives a computer on her birthday. She is excited to meet new friends online until she becomes the target of bullies on a popular social website. Her life changes quickly to one of fear, frustration and depression. Upon learning that she is not alone, including a classmate who suffered a similar experience, Taylor rebounds with the help of her mom (Don’t miss ABC’s Family movie “Cyberbu//y” on July 17th, 2011).
Film Review: Parents need to know that this TV movie takes a realistic and thoughtful approach to the issue of online bullying as seen through the eyes of a teen victim. Though the social website at the heart of the story is fictional, its similarity to Facebook and the like is implied, so you can draw real-world parallels between the characters' interactions and what your teens find online. The emotional content touches on issues like homophobia and suicide, so be prepared to discuss these themes as well. There's some strong language ("ass" and "damn") and a lot of name-calling ("skank," "whore," "bitch"), both face-to-face and online, and teens talk about their own sexual experiences and their views on premarital sex. There are some positive messages about tolerance, standing up to peer pressure, and turning the tables on adversity, but the movie's serious tone makes it best for teens and up. (Common Sense Media)
Cyberbully (stylized cyberbu//y) is a television film that premiered on July 17, 2011 on ABC Family. ABC Family worked with Seventeen magazine to make the film, and hopes it will "delete digital drama". The film tells the story of a teenage girl who is bullied online. It was filmed in Montreal. The film will be released on DVD February 7, 2012 (Wikipedia).
Huffington Post: "...That video changed my life. For some reason, even though I was on screen for less than 10 seconds, something about my dancing (which, I admit, wasn't exactly... professional) made a lot of people really, ridiculously, inexplicably angry. And voilà! I became the new target of quite a few Internet haters. Suddenly thousands of total strangers were saying rude things about me and calling me names like: lame, loser, awful, worthless, annoying, fat, ugly, dumb, horrible, stupid, freak -- and those aren't even the bad ones, lol. They also made gifs of me dancing and reposted it all over YouTube and Facebook (but I gotta admit, those were pretty hilarious). It seemed like the whole world had something to say about me. At first I was pretty shocked because, I mean, I'm just a kid who danced in a video, right? But then I realized that all that hate couldn't have been directed at me personally. How could someone really hate someone they know absolutely nothing about? So I laughed and I joked with the haters. I admitted that, yes, my dancing was pretty awkward, thank you very much. And then something happened. Something that I didn't expect at all. People who were hating on me suddenly started taking an interest in me. They made Facebook fan pages for me and started putting my photo as their profile pictures! The first time I saw it, I was just like, "... what?!"
They didn't know my name, so they were calling me "Sammy," "Madge," "Nadine," and "that girl in pink that dances awkwardly." So then I made my own official Facebook profile and fan page. I was getting thousands of questions every day, along with requests for me to do my dance, to sing, and to marry them on Facebook! What was even more amazing was that people started asking me for advice on how to deal with bullying and asking how I stayed so positive when everyone was being so mean. They were sharing the things that they were going through at home and at school. They were struggling with their weight, or their sexuality, or abusive relationships, and so many other things. Basically, anything these kids were facing, they were sharing with me. Reading story after story, my heart was broken. So I did my little awkward four-second dance for them in my YouTube videos (which helped raise money for earthquake relief in Japan). I organized teams of people from around the world to walk with me for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's annual "Great Strides" fundraiser. Then I wrote an e-book on how to handle cyberbullying (if you'd like to read it, it's available as a free download on thatgirlinpink.org). And then, I remembered something. Something I wrote down long before the "Friday" video. Quite a while ago, I was on a site called Six Billion Secrets. It's a site for anyone with troubles to speak about what they're going through in a completely anonymous, non-judgmental setting. After reading stories about kids getting bullied, raped, abused, or kicked out, I didn't know what to do with all that emotion. I mean, on the outside, these kids looked just like me. On the inside, they were hiding some terrible secret. Any one of those stories could have been posted by my closest friend. So I wrote down what I was feeling and it sort of turned into a song. It was a song about getting through what's happening in your life. A song saying, "Yeah, this is tough. But there is light at the end of this tunnel..." (I'm 'That Girl in Pink' )
Benni Cinkle rose to Internet fame in March, 2011 when she appeared in a music video that went viral on the Internet (approximately 180 million views). At first, she was ridiculed by the world for her awkward dancing, but instead shying away from the attention, she decided to use her 15 minutes of fame to raise awareness for the things she cares about most. Benni has been actively involved with charities for as long as she can remember. She modeled the example of her mom, a successful business owner and active community volunteer...Today, Benni is Founder and Vice President of the That Girl in Pink Foundation, a 501c3 organization. She established it shortly after receiving global Internet attention in order to better lend her support to many worthwhile causes (About Benni).
JUF: "...During her freshman year at Syracuse University, Gelfenbien was endlessly taunted by a group of boys. Although she eventually reported them and the bullying stopped, the rest of her college experience was permanently tarnished. Committed to her education, she stayed at school but suffered from low self-esteem and retreated into a shell of her typically outgoing self. Along came the Wienermobile, and with it, a new beginning. Recruited during her senior year of college, Gelfenbien knew she had been meant for the job. But never could she have predicted that the experience would impact her life as profoundly as it did...."I didn’t realize that I had lost my voice during college when I was driving the Wienermobile, but it’s obvious to me now. I basically shut down during those four years, and I thought the Wienermobile [job] would let me be myself again, which is an enthusiastic, outgoing, and silly goofball. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be on TV, which is why I went to the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Unfortunately, I didn’t take advantage of that education the way I had hoped because of the bullying…I wanted to be a broadcast major, but the bullying made me afraid to do the campus TV or radio show, because I didn’t want to be harassed more...It allowed me to partially reclaim my old self, who was spirited, exuberant and funny. All of that had been quelled through college. The job allowed me the opportunity to find my voice again, because I was being paid to be myself—someone who is outgoing, enthusiastic, and loves being around people..." (Behind the wheel…of the Wienermobile)
Get behind the wheel with Robin Gelfenbien, an insecure goody-goody, who seeks redemption on the road in the Wienermobile after years of being bullied. Can she handle a horndog co-pilot, a media circus and her college nemesis? Using music, video and photo footage from her life on the Hot Dog Highway, Gelfenbien shares the touching and hysterical true story* of her transformation from underdog to “one of the most notorious Wienermobile drivers of all time.” - Time Out New York (About Wienermobile Journey)
Robin Gelfenbien is a writer and performer whose solo show, My Salvation Has a First Name: A Wienermobile Journey, premiered at the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival. She has written jokes for Rosie O’Donnell and appeared on VH1 and in a commercial directed by Spike Lee. She’s also the creator of the storytelling series, “Yum’s the Word,” that features her homemade ice cream cakes (Broadway World).
Bullying is an abusive treatment, the use of force or coercion to affect others, particularly when habitual and involving an imbalance of power. It may involve verbal harassment, physical assault or coercion and may be directed persistently towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality, or ability. The "imbalance of power" may be social power and/or physical power. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a "targeted individual" (Wikipedia).
