Study Smart:First Aid

Dealing With Harassment!

The Problem...

Dear Study Smart:
Boys make fun of me because I have a huge chest. Any suggestions on what I should do? This would be a great help to me.

Anoushka, 12

Dear Anoushka: Hey, girl! What you're goin' through is called harassment and it hurts. Those boys need to learn, girls are not toys to play with, make fun of, or inferior beings to harass just to make them feel big inside. When somebody's lookin' at your body and not your whole self as a person, it's like they turned you into a couch. Furniture. Something to use, not relate to. Not an equal. The girl crew here talked about it. Here's what we think you should do.

Some Solutions

• First. Don't hide your beautiful self. Every human being is a work of art.
  
  
• Second. Don't ignore what they say. You stand up to those boys, and you've got a chance to stop them.
• Don't put up or shut up.
  
  
• Tell it like it is. Say you're harassing me.
  
  
• Tell them to stop it.
  
  
• Say I don't like it. It's against the law.
  
  
• Do it again, and I'm going to tell somebody.
  
  
• Sure, they'll say rude junk to you after that. None of it is true, they're just trying to scare you.
  
  
• You're not being a tattle or a rat. You're standing up for yourself.
  
  
• Then, you go get your sisters behind you.
  
  
• Talk to your girl friends.
  
  
• Don't any of you stand for junk like this. They're dissin' you.
  
  
• You deserve respect.
  
  
• Be united. If they're doing it to you, they're doing it to other girls, too.
  
  
• Last thing's the hardest. You gotta tell somebody what you're going through.
  
  
• Don't hold it inside where it hurts.
  
  
• If you can't talk to your parents, go to a school counselor or your teacher.
  
  
• Find somebody who's got the power to do something for you.
  
  
• Those boys think you're a dishrag they can walk on. Well, you're not.
  
  
• Don't be scared or embarrassed.
  
  
• You've got girlpower and courage. Use them in your own self defense.
  
  

Here's some books that can help: Get Smart! What You Should Know (But Won't Learn in Class) about Harassment and Discrimination, by Montana Katz and Veronica Vieland. And, Free to Fight Back: A Self Defense Handbook for Women, by Marilyn Scribner.

Your cyberfriend, Tessa