Video: Amanda Todd - Struggling, Bullying, Suicide, Self Harm

My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self harm

  

 I'm struggling to stay in this world, because everything just touches me so deeply. I'm not doing this for attention. I'm doing this to be an inspiration and to show that I can be strong. I did things to myself to make pain go away, because I'd rather hurt myself then someone else. Haters are haters but please don't hate, although im sure I'll get them. I hope I can show you guys that everyone has a story, and everyones future will be bright one day, you just gotta pull through. I'm still here aren't I ? - AmandaTodd

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RIP Amanda Todd (1996-2012) 

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NEWS: President Obama Hosts White House Conference on Bullying

President Obama Hosts White House Conference on Bullying
 
by Alex Wagner, White House Correspondent


For a few hours on Thursday morning, President Obama donned the cap of America's "Father-in Chief," hosting the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention. Standing alongside the first lady, the president announced, "If there's one goal of this conference, it's to dispel the myth that bullying is just a harmless rite of passage or an inevitable part of growing up. It's not. Bullying can have destructive consequences for our young people."

As evidence, the president recalled victims of bullying who had taken their own lives: "They felt like they had nowhere to turn, as if they had no escape from taunting and bullying that made school something they feared."

Citing the almost 3 million students who have said they were "pushed, shoved, tripped, even spit on," Obama said that bullying was "more likely to affect kids that are seen as different -- whether it's because of the color of their skin, the clothes they wear, the disability they may have, or sexual orientation."

READ MORE: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/03/10/obama-father-in-chief-hosts-white-house-conference-on-bullying/ 

Brutal bullies: What makes kids cruel?

From MSNBC: Case of tormented teen raises disturbing questions

The last few months of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince's life were filled with unrelenting torment, according to reports by fellow students.

Classmates at the Irish immigrant's Massachusetts high school called Prince a "whore" and an "Irish slut," students said. They defaced her school photo with obscene drawings, sent her threatening text messages and whispered — or shouted — insults in school hallways.

On Jan. 14, witnesses say, she was taunted by a group of classmates in the library and hit with a can of Red Bull thrown from a moving car. That afternoon, Prince went home and hanged herself with a scarf.

Nine students have now been charged with harassment and other bullying-related crimes, spurring national debate about the role of the justice system and the culpability of the school administration. But Prince's case raises another, more elemental question: Why are kids so cruel?

Beginnings of bullying research

Research into bullying didn't start until the 1970s, when psychologist Dan Olweus began to study the phenomenon in Norwegian schoolchildren. In fact, much of the study was triggered by the suicides of several young victims of bullying, said René Veenstra, a sociologist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.


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Since then, decades of research have shown that the power differential between bullies and victims is a crucial component of the interaction.

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Nine Charged in Bullying of Massachusetts Teen Who Killed Herself

Associated Press:Nine teens charged in the 'unrelenting' bullying of girl who killed herself, and two of them charged with statutory rape.

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- Nine teens have been charged in the "unrelenting" bullying of a teenage girl from Ireland who killed herself after being raped and enduring months of torment by classmates in person and online, a prosecutor said Monday.

Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said 15-year-old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley was stalked and harassed nearly constantly from September until she killed herself Jan. 14. The freshman had recently moved to western Massachusetts from Ireland.

"The investigation revealed relentless activities directed toward Phoebe to make it impossible for her to stay at school. The bullying for her was intolerable," Scheibel said.

Six teens -- four girls and two boys -- face charges including statutory rape, assault, violation of civil rights resulting in injury, criminal harassment, disturbance of a school assembly and stalking. Three younger girls face delinquency charges.

Scheibel said the harassment began in September. She said school officials knew about the bullying, but none will face criminal charges.

"The actions of these students were primarily conducted on school grounds during school hours and while school was in session," the prosecutor said.

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