Prejudice, or identity, based bullying targets children and young people because of who they are or who they are perceived to be. This can be on the grounds of age, disability, gender (including gender identity), race, membership of the travelling community, religion or belief and sexual orientation. Children and young people can also be bullied for being perceived to belong to one or more of these groups, or for being associated with a member of one or more of these groups. It includes Racist and Homophobic Bullying.

Should Prejudiced based Bullying be treated any differently?
The rising anti-bullying tide will lift all boats, however when the target of bullying is a child who is already discriminated against, or is in a minority that leaves them open to discrimination, then that situation requires additional focus. By discrimination we mean when somebody is treated less favourably than others because of a specific personal attribute such as their gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, or membership of the travelling community or for any other reason. Whether that discrimination is actively present in their school or not, once it is generally accepted to exist in wider society it must be acknowledged and addressed in school to ensure it does not fuel bullying behaviour.

“Safe for Everyone”

With support from The Community Foundation for Ireland we have been resourced to devise a workshop that specifically addresses homophobic bullying in Schools. We strongly recommend that schools access the excellent resources that GLEN  and DES have produced in conjunction with the education partners

The schools we work with that are most successful in addressing bullying are also schools that actively promote a respect for diversity.

Alterophobic based Bullying
This paper from Dr. Stephen James Minton of TCD, Dublin is the first study to focus explicitly on “alterophobia”, and provides the first empirical evidence on “alterophobic bullying”