Pink Shirt Day is marked on Feb. 26 in school districts across Greater Victoria as a way to draw attention to the problem of bullying.
The day originated in Canada in 2007 when two students stood up against the homophobic harassment of a classmate by calling on their peers to wear pink in solidarity with the victimized student. The initiative garnered national attention and has steadily grown.
But, while the sentiment behind the day – raising awareness and promoting kindness and inclusivity – is arguably a good thing, experts in the field have questioned the effectiveness of the strategy and called for a shift in approach.
That shift, they say, is needed more than ever given the changing face of bullying.
“On Pink Shirt Day, school and public events will aim to educate young people on the impact of bullying, but these events don’t do much to address the actual behaviours,” said Darren Laur, chief training officer for The White Hatters, a digital literacy education specialty company that has worked to help schools and others deal with cyberbullying.
“The events do very little to address the actual bullying behaviours or assist the victims of bullying.”
Laur even cites examples of bullies wearing pink shirts on the day to blend in, while still engaging in bullying behaviour.
In fact, Laur doesn’t like the term “bullying” at all. “I think it trivializes and confuses the issue,” he said.
The legal definition of bullying is: Behaviour that is intended to cause fear, intimidation, humiliation, distress or other forms of harm to another person’s body, feelings, self-esteem, reputation or property. Bullying can be direct or indirect, and can take place by written, verbal, physical or electronic means, or any other form of expression.
The important thing missing from that definition, said Laur, is the aspect that most defines bullying – a power imbalance.
“By focusing on that power imbalance, we can distinguish between bullying and what is really just rude, mean, or disturbing behaviour,” said Laur. “Those rude and mean behaviours are a part of growing up and learning interpersonal skills. You shouldn’t call any behaviour that you don’t like bullying. It diminishes the harm that real bullying can cause.”
Those harms can, and have, gone so far as to be linked to the suicide of bullying victims.
Dave Eberwein, School District 63 superintendent, said that his district is very cognizant of the issues surrounding bullying and has worked to develop a strong culture of support in which students feel safe in reporting bullying behaviours.
“Of course, there is a wide spectrum of behaviours that we see reported. It can happen directly, online and we’ve had situations where abusive behaviour in the home is reported to the school. And while we have to be cautious that we don’t label everything as bullying, our staff are very adept at resolving issues.”
School District 62 has adopted a similar philosophy.
“We’ve instituted a cellphone ban during school hours, for example, and we’ve established codes of conduct for elementary, middle and secondary students,” said Kristen McGillivray, manager of strategic communications.
Violations of those codes of conduct can, and have, resulted in a variety of actions, up to and including school suspensions and referrals to law enforcement.
“The real problem we have with cyberbullying is that we aren’t able to detect the bullying unless the digital activity is monitored by parents. We are not allowed to look into a student's personal phone,” said McGillivary.
“Cyberbullying is also most often anonymous and finding out who is doing it can be very hard. We’ve had situations where what we think are students even bullying teachers by posting photos and comments but there’s little we can do about it.”
So what can be done beyond showing solidarity on Pink Shirt Day?
“It’s really important for young people to report bullying when it happens. They should talk to a trusted school staff member or adult, or they can use the “Report It/Erase It” tool to anonymously report a problem” said Laur.
The B.C. government reporting line can be found at erasereportit.gov.bc.ca/.
“It’s also possible, in some cases, to report the problem to law enforcement,” he said. “There are at least 14 different offences that can be used to deal with digital peer aggression, including offences like counselling suicide, impersonation, harassment, and hate crimes.”
As might be expected, all of this just scratches the surface of the issues surrounding bullying.
For example, questions of what to do if you find that your child is the bully can be daunting and sometimes mental health issues may be at the root of bullying behaviours.
“We know that Pink Shirt Day, by itself, isn’t something that will end bullying,” said Everwein. “But it’s important that we keep the issue in the forefront. We all want to become better people, after all.”
