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Bullying Is The Number One Cause Of Self Injury And Suicide

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In the United States, over two million people die each year, and suicide is one of the top ten causes. It is the third leading cause of death for young people. For every single suicide, there are about one hundred suicide attempts. Along with suicides, there are about 700,000 visits to the hospital for self-inflicted injury. Those are enormously high numbers. This begs the question, what is going on that is causing so many people to take their lives? Bullying is the number one cause of self-injury and suicide. Not only can bullying be physical, it can also be verbal or emotional; it can take place face to face or online. Young people are bullied for everything from their weight, make-up, clothing choices, and hairstyles to their gender, sexuality, …show more content…
Every day young people are bullied because of their looks, and most commonly, their weight. The idea that a person needs to be a certain weight in order to be accepted is completely absurd. Because of this ridiculous expectancy for young people to look a certain way and weigh a certain amount, eating disorders are becoming more of a problem than ever before in the past. People struggle with self-confidence and decide to take drastic measures to make themselves look better. The problem, however, isn’t with their weight or any aspect of their appearance. The problem is that society makes people believe that only skinny is beautiful and students are bullied if their peers don’t think they fit the criteria of beauty. What aspect of physical appearance is even important? What about “beauty” is so important that people should feel the need to go to such great lengths such as self-harm, eating disorders, or even suicide? This country, as a whole, is twisting children’s minds into thinking that appearance is everything and when they don’t look the way society and their peers say they need to, it causes serious mental and emotional …show more content…
There is a form of bullying known as slut-shaming. The word “slut” is a sexist slur that is used almost every day by not only males, but because it has become such a social norm, it is used by females as well. The word itself is meant to be an insult to women who show even the slightest interest in sexual activity, even though males are praised for the same interests. Women have the same hormones as men. One will hear the excuse that it’s different for men because they “just can’t help themselves” and “that’s how they were made.” However, scientific studies show that there really aren't any significant differences in the amount of sex hormones between both genders, and, therefore, there is absolutely no reason to treat the same feelings and desires differently based on gender. A female’s peers will try to make her feel bad about herself for impulses that are perfectly normal. That girl will go on the rest of her life thinking that she is wrong and disgusting for feeling and thinking in a way that might be considered promiscuous. This line of thinking causes the entire world to turn a blind eye when it comes to more serious matters like sexual abuse and rape. There are almost 240,000 people over the age of twelve that have been sexually assaulted or raped. Instead of stopping the attackers, ninety-seven percent of them walk free and the victim is blamed and

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