Unfortunately, the word harassment is a widespread term and one that we have all heard at one time or another. Bullying is an action that can manifest itself in many ways.. A person who harasses another may issue threats, rumors, physical or verbal attacks and may even encourage the isolation and exclusion of the victim. This phenomenon can also be observed in a wide variety of scenarios. We can talk about bullying in schools, companies, romantic relationships, the media and even on the Internet. For all these reasons, bullying is a universal and very frequent phenomenon.
Although bullying has always existed, nowadays society has developed a much greater sensitivity towards this problem. Just a few decades ago, many bullying situations were normalized or kept secret. As a result, it was common for no measures to be taken in this regard, favoring prolonged exposure of the victim to the aggressor. Thus, bullying was understood to be an inevitable event and was even conceived as something to be expected in many cases. Examples of this are the view of bullying at school as childish nonsense or bullying at work as part of the hierarchy of power between boss and employee.
As we said, today this situation has begun to change. Bullying in its different forms is now recognized as a crime and is therefore punishable by a greater or lesser penalty depending on its severity.. However, the most remarkable thing in recent times has gone beyond the legal level, because we are talking about a change of mentality in the population.
An example of this can be found in the famous Me Too movement against sexual harassment of women and in the increasingly rigorous measures and protocols applied to combat bullying in the classroom. Due to the importance of detecting and acting upon this phenomenon, in this article we will review the main types of harassment to learn what each of them consists of.
What types of bullying are there?
In the following we are going to know the types of bullying that exist and their respective characteristics.. In some cases, different types of bullying can occur simultaneously. For example, a teenager who suffers bullying in the classroom may also be receiving threats from his or her aggressors through social networks. The basis of all types of bullying always involves an asymmetry of power between aggressor and victim.
Often this difference is given in a formal way, the clearest example being the relationship between a boss and his employee. In other cases, it is built up progressively, so that the aggressor gradually undermines the victim’s self-esteem and sense of security. This can be seen in bullying in relationships or in bullying at school.
1. Bullying
School bullying, also known as bullying, is one of the best known and most frequent types of bullying.. This phenomenon has been widely investigated, since it occurs in practically all schools to a greater or lesser extent. Studies on the subject have favored that bullying is taken seriously and is addressed as the violence that it is.
Bullying has devastating effects on the child who suffers it, causing not only profound damage to his or her self-esteem, but also to the way he or she perceives the world. Bullied children assume that they deserve the violence they suffer, that they have no right to healthy relationships with others and that, in short, they are never safe. For this reason, psychological problems such as anxiety and depression often appear, with frequent somatizations related to the fear of going to class such as lack of appetite or sleep disturbances.
Bullying can take many forms, including insults, threats, humiliation and exclusion, as well as physical aggression, theft of objects or spreading lies about the victim. The seriousness of bullying is due to the fact that it is a violence that affects a child in the process of psychological development.. For all these reasons, an experience of this type, especially when it is not addressed, generates damage that can last into adulthood.
At present, all schools are legally obliged to act when faced with a situation of bullying in their classrooms. In addition, bullying is a criminal offense and can be reported. Of course, in addition to these measures, prevention work is essential. To this end, it is crucial to work from an early age to promote the development of communication skills, assertiveness, empathy, conflict resolution, etc. Of course, work should also be done with those students with difficult situations at home, since many child aggressors act by pure imitation of the models they see at home.
2. Harassment at work (mobbing)
Workplace bullying, also known as mobbing, shares many similarities with bullying at school, with the difference that occurs in a work environment and not in a school. and not in an educational center. Workplace bullying can be very serious, because the victim is usually trapped in a threatening environment in which he/she is attacked by the aggressor on a daily basis.
This harassment can take two forms depending on the link between the aggressor and the victim. We speak of horizontal harassment when it occurs between people who hold similar positions, while vertical harassment occurs between people who occupy different positions in the hierarchy of power in the organization.
In any case, this is a particularly common phenomenon in developed countries. In recent years, the focus has begun to be placed on this problem in order not only to intervene when it occurs, but also to prevent it. To this end, it is essential to work with the different it is essential to work with the different members of the company, favoring healthy work climates..
3. Sexual harassment
This type of harassment is, unfortunately, also well known. Sexual harassment has been shrouded in secrecy and stigma for many years, silencing the victims who have experienced it firsthand. However, in recent years, the Me Too movement has helped to give a voice to many people who have been harassed and did not find, at the time, the support, understanding and justice they needed.
Sexual harassment is characterized by the perpetrator harassing a person because of his or her gender.. Sexual harassment can include unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and any other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. Also included as sexual harassment are offensive comments towards women in general terms with a misogynistic character.
Although the most common form of sexual harassment is that of a male aggressor towards a female victim, the truth is that both can be male or female and both can even be of the same sex. The main problem regarding sexual harassment is that it often takes a very subtle form (comments, jokes…), so we are talking about behaviors that are not regulated by law and, therefore, cannot be classified for legal purposes as sexual harassment.
In addition to these issues, Sexual harassment is also difficult to detect because victims are often silenced by guilt, shame or fear of not being believed.. For this reason, some companies are beginning to act in order to detect this phenomenon early to avoid prolonged suffering for the victim.
4. Online harassment or cyberbullying
Cyberbullying consists of intimidation through new technologies.. Aggressions can take place on social networks, messaging and gaming platforms, cell phones, etc. The aim of the aggressors who act in this way is none other than to generate fear, humiliation or anger in the victim. Examples of this type of harassment include spreading lies, publishing compromising photographs of the victim against his or her will, sending hurtful or threatening messages and impersonating the victim to act on networks in his or her name.
As mentioned above, the different types of harassment can appear together. Generally, cyberbullying usually goes hand in hand with in-person bullying. However, for legal purposes, cyberbullying is always easier to prove because there is clear evidence of the aggressions.
5. Police harassment
This term is used to refer to abusive behavior on the part of different law enforcement agencies. Some professionals use their power to humiliate, blackmail, use disproportionate force or threaten their victims.. Although fortunately these cases do not represent the generality, when they happen they receive great attention due to the seriousness involved, since these professionals have weapons that, used in inappropriate situations, can end the life of an innocent person.
In addition, police harassment has been associated with phenomena such as racism, especially in the United States, where the black population is more vulnerable to unfair aggression by members of the police because of their skin color.