Bullying: Its Stops Here

October marks the month for the awareness of anti-bullying. And as the advertising and stories surface to stand against bullying, Latinitas Magazine, too, will take a stand.
In the halls of any school in America, you will find the issue of bullying. However academically challenging the school may be, bullying is an issue and it must be dealt with.
Two weeks ago, Anderson Cooper conducted a special report on his study, "Bullying: It Stops Here." In his research, bullying has been exposed in the limelight. Bullying is no longer the issue to be thrown under the table or considered a rite of passage. With new technological advances, bullying goes further than just school grounds making it impossible for the victim to "get over". Bullying can lead to acts of depression and cause obsessive thoughts and behavior of self-esteem issues, eat disorders, and even resulting in suicide. Robert Faris, a sociologist at UC Davis, coins the term "social combat" as reason to why so many kids are bullied. The race to climb the social ladder is the consequence of bullying. In his study he found that 56% of kids are aggressors, victims or both.
Most shockingly, 81% of these bullying incidents, which are in fact witnessed by bystanders, are never reported. And 74% of kids do not want to tell their parents for fear that their parents will not take it seriously.
Of course, it is no surprise that Lifetime is one of the voices standing against bullying. In the new Lifetime Original movie, Girl Fight, bullying is brought to the front in a true story when a girl is brutally beaten up by a group of girls so they can get their 15minutes of fame by posting a video of the beating online. Their mistake was filming the video in the first place as it gave the police enough evidence to prosecute them.
This story, unfortunately, is not new news. You can YouTube the words "girl fight" right now, and find videos posted online of girls fighting or being beaten up. To kids, it is entertainment, just as bullying is entertainment for the aggressors.
Why is this issue so important to Latinitas Magazine? Since Latinitas targets young girls who are going through this issue, we want to let them know that you are not alone. Latinas girls are more likely to suffer from depression and commit suicide. In fact, in the fastest growing minority, 1 in 6 Latina girls will attempt suicide. That's why Latinitas is a magazine focused on inspiring and motivating young girls to learn more, achieve more, and aspire more. The more confidence we instill in a young girl, the more likely she will take a stand against issues in her life, whether it be bullying, SAT tests, or getting into college for the first-time; Latinitas is there supporting these young girls every day.
For those young Latinitas, Latinitas Magazine encourages you to take a stand. Believe in your future. If you see someone being bullied, stand up against them with your friends. The aggressors will back down in a group of people. Take a stand online by signing the "Bullying: It Stops Here" Campaign on Facebook. Take another stand online and report any misconduct or bullying you see on social networking sites. You can even report videos on YouTube.
Our society thrives on negativity. We have become leaches to the bad, the corrupt, and the just plain wrong. Why don't we turn this contagious behavior and turn it into something positive? Positivity can thrive just the same way. Remember, we make up a society, so that means we are in control.