Jodee Blanco

Jodee Blanco is a charismatic, speaker who survived teen bullying. In the past she has worked in Hollywood with the stars, but these days, she focuses her attention on bullying in middle schools and high schools. She travels around the country giving lectures on what her experiences with bullying were and how to prevent that from happening in schools today.

Her stories of how the teen queen of her school, Nadia, whom she labels an "elite tormentor,"bullied her were appalling. I have not seen, nor experienced, anything like what Jodee went through. She told how Nadia and her friends told her over and over again that she was a freak and should transfer to another school. They threw her favorite shoes in the toilet and peed on them, they smeared old cafeteria food in her locker, they even nearly choked her to death by stuffing snow down her throat. I always thought this sort of dramatization of teen bullying was only found in movies, but evidently it is a part of reality. Jodee Blanco believes, however, that it doesn't have to be!

Her triumphs later in life brought her to this conclusion, that bullying doesn't have to be something kids go through. Her efforts to bring awareness about the effects of bullying are helping to shed light on the truth of bullying in schools. I think one of the things that stuck out the most to me was her emphasis on the fact that the bullies themselves think that it is all one big joke. Over and over again she reminded us that, to the bully, it is just a game, they don't actually mean harm by what they are doing. To the one being bullied on the other hand, it is never a joke - and she stressed this to all the students listening to her. The damage being done to the one bullied is irreversible and lifelong.

Another thing that she pointed out to parents of students is that often we try to make our children understand why the bully might be that way - we usually think because of a poor family background or what have you. Jodee believes that our children don't reason in a way to make that sort of perspective change beneficial to their situation. She also finds it ironic that no one ever says to the bully, "why do you think the people you bully are the way they are?" Shouldn't they be made aware that the reason they are able to pick on that person is not because that person was born weird, but because that person was made weird by the circumstances he or she was subjected to (ie bullying).

All this goes to show that bullying is real and horrific. Teachers ought to be aware of its effects on students and who is the bully and who is being bullied. Swift harsh action should be taken against it, but not in the usual sense of punishment. Bullying needs to be eradicated from chain of social hierarchy. It will take students, parents, teachers and administration to fight the battle against it. Jodee Blanco believes the war can be won!