Have you ever been bullied?

Interview 1 (Woman and boy)
Woman: Have you?
Boy: Err … no.
Woman: No? I have, when I was little.

Interview 2 (Three young women)
Woman 1: Well, when I was earlier, younger, I was bullied for about my height and about boys who used to be jealous that I was taller than them, so they used to bully me and yeah ...
Woman 2: They used to call her a giraffe.
Woman 1: Yeah.

Interview 3 (Man with glasses)
Man: I’ve been in groups of friends where I’ve had jokes about me made more than other people did for example, but I wouldn’t say I’d been bullied like consistently.

Interview 4 (Four women and girls)
Woman: Like, I was friends with a lot of people, but at the same time like, I was an easy target, I mean, I am and yeah ... they used to pick on me a lot.

Interview 5 (Blond woman)
I used to be a teacher, so I’ve certainly seen plenty of bullying in the classroom.

Interview 6 (Two guys)
Guy: Oh yeah, definitely, erm, I mean ... I was bullied a little bit in my earlier high school experience, like I had blue hair and like I wore the fingerless gloves and everything, so, like, it ... it’s difficult but ... you know, like ... it’s ... I actually did, erm like, I ended up going to therapy for a little while, so like I’ve met a lot of people who have gone through bullying and it’s like one of those things you have to kind of help each other out ... yeah.

Interview 7 (Young boy)
I had an argument with a boy which then led to turned into a fight. I was in the classroom. People were constantly calling me a tramp and saying I live in a pit. Then, I was saying stuff back to them, the teacher caught me saying that and was going to send me out. She ... she heard them ... she was te ... she didn’t do anything ... um ... she just completely ignored them and then when I said something back to them, she was going to send me out on ... I packed all my things away and walked out of school back to home. This teacher come running after me and I completely ignored her while she carried on to shout my name. I felt a bit sad because ... erm ... I was ignoring the teacher and all she was trying to do was help.

Part 2: 'Have you ever been a bully?'

Interview 1 (Man with glasses): Probably yes, yeah, erm ... I think it’s easy to get, especially with the dynamics of a group, drawn into saying something that you wouldn’t say on your own, for example, yeah.

Interview 2 (Blond woman): I think if you define bullying in a very kind of open way, then yes, I think probably we’re all capable of bullying.

Part 3: 'Why do bullies bully?'

Interview 1 (woman and boy): I don’t know. I suppose maybe I was slightly different to them, I don’t know really ... I don’t know, erm, boredom? Something to do? They got a kick out of it?

Interview 2 (Man with glasses): I think obviously bullying allows you to feel ... um ... a sense of superiority over the person you’re doing it to. Now why people want to feel a sense of superiority ... is a different question, I guess, err ... there’s probably something that they’re making up for ... that might just be received wisdom, I don’t know.

Interview 3 (Three young women): Why? Erm ... probably because they’re jealous that I was taller than them ... or because ... I don’t know ... they just, the boys were boys and they’re ... I don’t know.

Part 4: (Boy on computer) 'How did bullying change the way you live your life today?'

Bullying has changed the way I live my life today. It’s knocked my confidence down and I never wanted to go to school again.

'Why do you think you were bullied?'

I have a low form of autism. My anxiety is much higher than everyone else’s and caused me to have many days off. Students thought I was skiving so started to bully me for it.

'How did you feel and what did they do?'

I felt constantly upset, they would tell me I had homework when I didn’t, meaning I was constantly stressed and they even made a song about me having days off.

Part 5: 'Looking back, how has bullying affected your life?'

(Two guys) So like, I think it like definitely changed me in a big way, because now I know what I want to do with my life and I know who I am and that that’s OK.

(Woman and boy) I could get quite angry about it, but I don’t and actually I know what they’re all up to now and I know that I’ve probably come out better than they have.

(Two guys) I’ve actually decided that I want to study psychology and I’m going to be a therapist, so, because I’d just like to help people ...

(Three young women) Well, looking back on it I kind of just laugh about it because it’s ... stupid to just bully in general.

(Woman and girls) It always makes me like ... stop before I say things, even though that doesn’t actually happen much any more.  I’ve grown comfortable with people I’m with now though.

(Two guys) I realised bullying it really doesn’t matter, like ... you just have to be yourself, so it kind of like helps you realise ... like ... it, it hurts for a while, but at the same time it helps.

(Blond woman) I think it’s, it’s probably something we still don’t do enough about.