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High School Hazing Case Highlights Girls' Involvement in Bullying

By Hugh C. McBride

The story of abuse and degradation made national headlines, spread like a brushfire through the blogosphere and was a featured topic on morning talk shows and the evening news: For the past 10 years, seniors at a prestigious New Jersey high school have been engaging in an organized hazing campaign against selected members of the incoming freshman class.

The existence of high school bullying is hardly a new topic, so it may seem odd that one school's problem would receive such widespread attention. But two factors likely increased interest in the abusive goings-on at Millburn High School:

• The story broke just as school was getting underway throughout the nation, giving the matter a certain timeliness.
• Both the perpetrators and the victims of this organized bullying were female students.

Though it may come as a surprise to those who think bullying is "just for boys," the Millburn case illustrates an unfortunate reality about bullying in U.S. schools -- namely, that this type of abuse is an equal-opportunity offense.

Not a New Topic

Though the involvement of female perpetrators and victims likely made the Millburn case a more interesting story for editors and producers throughout the nation, the concept of girl bullies is hardly a new topic for those who have been paying attention to education-related matters.

For example, in an April 10, 2002, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, education writer Jane Elizabeth paints a disturbingly evocative picture about the presence -- and power -- of girl bullies in U.S. schools:

In the world of adolescent girls, the school bully wears glitter fingernail polish. ...

[She] is skinny, pretty and seemingly perfect.

And she can make other girls' lives so horrible that, decades later, they'll break down in tears just talking about it -- if they can talk about it at all.

Elizabeth's article, which addressed the anti-bullying efforts of the Pennsylvania-based Ophelia Project, was timed to coincide with the release of a book about the degree to which aggression and abuse affect girls and young women.

Written by Ophelia Project member Rachel Simmons, Odd Girl Out: The Culture of Hidden Aggression in Girls explored the myriad ways in which bullying harms girls both during their school years and into adulthood:

For her book, Simmons conducted hundreds of interviews with girls and women, some of whom described bullying so severe that they developed ulcers and eating disorders, transferred to other schools, used drugs, or became depressed or suicidal and underwent psychological counseling well into their adult years.

How Girls Bully

Reports of the Millburn High School hazing controversy usually began with accounts of the "slut list," an annual written attack on a dozen or more freshman girls. Those whose names appeared on the "slut list" (which was photocopied and distributed throughout the student body) were mocked on a wide range of topics, including their appearances and supposed sexual proclivities.

This type of "indirect" harassment is one of two general types of bullying:

1. Direct (physical) bullying -- This type of bullying includes the more "traditional" means of youth harassment, such as hitting, slapping, shoving, yelling and threatening via face-to-face confrontations.
2. Indirect (emotional) bullying -- Not always as apparent (but often more destructive), indirect or emotional bullying can consist of ostracizing a person from a group, spreading malicious lies, starting rumors and leaving threatening messages. Technology has given emotional bullies a new weapon in recent years, with more students being harassed via text message or through notes posted to online social networking sites.

In his review of Odd Girl Out, Mark Daims (writing in the January 2004 issue of Human Nature Review) describes the devastating ways in which girl bullies can employ indirect measures to inflict pain upon their peers:

Victims live day to day at school wherein other girls talk about them and laugh amongst themselves about them in front of them, where they knock them down as they are passed in the hall, and where they suffer from a host of subterfuges as the bullies tell the teacher the victim cheats or place orders at weight-loss establishments that later call the victim's home.

Understandably the victims go home and cry every day.

The ring-leader or mastermind of their torment is usually a close friend, even a best friend, who may provide just enough occasional recognition of the victim to keep her hopeful and coming back for more abuse. Teachers are unaware, unsure, or deceived.

The bullies in these stories are "A" students who might even be the teacher's pet. The looks and aggression are covert, covered in sugar and spice.

Physical and Psychological Torment

Daims' account, of course, in no way implies that girl bullies are somehow "above" resorting to physical abuse in their attempts to terrorize their victims.

For example, in a Sept. 23 post on the Feministe blog, Kelly Roach noted that the number of 10- to 17-year-old girls who were arrested for aggravated assault doubled between 1989 and 2009 -- and that at least some girl bullies make no effort to hide what they are doing.

"In one highly publicized case in 2007, a 13-year-old [New York] girl was attacked and beaten by three female classmates, who recorded and posted the assault on YouTube,” Roach wrote, “That is, they were proud of their 'accomplishment.'"

The New York girls aren't the only ones to attempt to further shame their victims by publicizing their abuse. In April 2008, eight girls in Lakeland, Fla., were arrested for severely beating a classmate, then posting a video of the attack on YouTube.

According to an April 8, 2008, article on the Fox News website, the Florida attack left the victim with serious physical and emotional injuries:

One of the girls struck the 16-year-old victim on the head several times and then slammed her head into a wall, knocking her unconscious, according to a police report ...

"When I saw my daughter in the emergency room, I didn't even recognize my own daughter," her father, Patrick Lindsay, said a recent news conference in front of their Florida home. "I just walked in and held her. I didn't want her to see me weep."

"I've never seen anybody's face disfigured like that."

While the beatings took place more than a week ago, Patrick and Talisa Lindsay said their daughter remains scared for her life.

"She is having nightmares over it," said her mother during a news conference outside their Florida home. "She has multiple bruises from it, from her head all the way down."

How Schools Respond

Many colleges and universities feature anti-bullying and anti-hazing information on their websites, and incorporate this message into orientation sessions for incoming and returning students. But on the high school level, the problem does not always receive a similar degree of attention.

For example, though Millburn Superintendent Richard Brodow issued a statement condemning bullying, hazing and other forms of abuse, the school appears to have been aware of (and incapable of ending) the "slut list" phenomenon for the past decade. In her Sept. 18 New York Times article about the New Jersey hazing, Tina Kelley reported that previous back-to-school hazing incidents have resulted in offenders being suspended for between three and five days -- though no one has yet been punished for this year's events.

Because girls who bully are often among the most popular students -- and because they often also have a wide range of influence -- many victims of high school bullying are loathe to report their abuse, fearing that the ostracism and associated harassment will only get worse.

Also, because many young female bullies have become adept at using indirect means such as anonymous cyber-bullying, even girls who do reach out to their teachers or parents fear that they won't be able to identify their abusers or end their torment.

Ending the Abuse

If your child is being bullied, harassed or hazed at school, don't assume that this is merely a harmless rite of passage. Adolescent bullying can leave lasting scars (both physical and emotional), and ignoring the problem -- or simply hoping it will go away -- can only exacerbate the damage.

Contact your child's school and request a meeting with relevant personnel (teachers, counselors and perhaps the principal) to discuss your concerns and enlist their assistance to end the bullying.

If your child has been experiencing anxiety, depression or other psychological problems as a result of being harassed, consult with your family physician to determine the best course of treatment.

And if you discover that your child has been a perpetrator (has been bullying other students), realize that this is also a problem that may require mental health services. Girls who exhibit aggressive and abusive behavior toward peers may be expressing symptoms related to trauma, personality disorders, bipolar disorder or other issues.

Regardless of her role, if your daughter is involved with bullying, she needs help -- and you are the one who needs to make sure that she gets that help.

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