Stacey Pierce Joins Forces with the #BooksAgainstBullying Campaign #amreading #books #LGBT
Stacey Pierce aka Coffey Brown, social worker, has been interested in writing for many years. She’s planning on publishing both fiction and non-fiction books in various genres hence the pen name. Born and raised in upstate New York, she currently resides in North Carolina with her partner of thirteen years. BrookLyn’s Journey is her first novel.
Connect with Stacey
Facebook Goodreads Website
I’m very grateful that Stacey has written up a guest blog for this post. Please read on to hear what Stacey has to say about bullying!
Bullying
Sadly enough bullying has been going on for years. It has increased to disproportionate numbers recently. Victims have started fighting back by killing their bullies or escaping it all by killing themselves. People get bullied sometimes for the dumbest things—height, hair color, and even how they dress. Of course, there are larger issues such as socioeconomic status, sexuality issues, weight, skin color or religion that also make students targets. As a child or teen no matter how big or small the issue is, it’s magnified and feels like the end of the world. When the name calling and possible physical abuse occurs, the individual internalizes the abuse and sometimes acts out in self-mutilating behavior.
It is imperative that children and teens actively take part in character education classes for things to get better. Bullies are generally not happy with themselves or their own personal situation (abusive parents, absent parent, etc.). The victim then unfairly becomes their focus on the anger and rage they feel about their own “stuff.” We need to help them, too, which in turn helps the victims.
When I was growing up, adults always said that names didn’t hurt. Like telling us about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, they lied. Names hurt! Parents need to tell their children that names do hurt while teaching them the necessary tools to deal with bullying. Teach them to ask for help, tell an adult, and encourage them to not be a bystander to someone else’s abuse. Parents need to be actively involved not allowing the schools to ignore or lessen things. Every child has the right to feel and be safe. Collectively, adults need to ensure their safety. If the school doesn’t do it then the parents need to do so.
Being bullied when classmates assume their peers are homosexual catapults the bullying to another level. Society has made great strides toward equality. Yet, derogatory words like “fag,” and “dyke” are commonplace. It is extremely important we remain diligent in our efforts to keep these children safe too. We all have to discover our true selves, but adding sexuality issues, can sometimes make this time in life unbearable. They don’t need to add bullies to the mix.
Will bullying ever disappear? I don’t think so. We need to work harder to teach children to respect the differences of others. Parents also need to be mindful of any visible changes their children are exhibiting daily to hopefully keep them from harming themselves and others. It’s important we take the power away from bullies by empowering the victims. We may not be able to fully eradicate bullying but that doesn’t mean shouldn’t work hard to do so.
Next up, Stacey’s donation! Check out the book Stacey had to offer to the books against bullying campaign! Be sure to grab your own copy, too!
Self-proclaimed nerd, BrookLyn Scott, is an eighteen-year-old high school senior in upstate New York who has never held a boy’s hand let alone one’s interest. She has some friends at school and church but is never far from the watchful eye of her abusive parents. BrookLyn’s plan is to escape the abuse by excelling in high school and running safely to college just as her older siblings did. Her plan is derailed after she’s invited and attends her first party. By the end of the night, BrookLyn finds out that church friend, Gabriella Michaels wants more than a friendship, and although her head says no, her heart thinks of the possibility. BrookLyn is focused on her escape plan while flying under the radar of her father’s swinging belt when she is thrust onto an emotional roller coaster. The question is, when the ride ends, where will BrookLyn stand?
Buy Your Copy!
Amazon eBook Amazon Print
* * *
You can vote for this book on the Authors with Amazing and Generous Hearts list on Goodreads. Please also “like” the list at the bottom.
If you would like to donate to the BAB Campaign, please email booksagainstbullies {at} gmail {dot} com
Thank you for stopping bye!
Rebecca Hamilton writes Paranormal Fantasy, Gothic Horror, and Literary Fiction. She is represented by the ever-more-amazing Rossano Trentin of TZLA.
To purchase her books, please visit Paranormal Fantasy Books.
You may like to know about a series of books I wrote about Bullying called The Ginger Ninja, (Which you can now get for iPad).
InThe UK, redheads were – and sadly still are – prone to bullying and name calling. When I came across the term Ginger Ninja, it so inspired me to write my series of books. Real Ninjas don’t need to actually fight because they have trained and trained and have such rock solid faith in their capabilities that most enemies will run away when the see the whites of their eyes.
I think the bullied are often suffering from low self esteem and so present a target for bullies. If you can’t change the bully you have to change the bullied. So much bullying comes from boredom. If there is no reaction, the bully moves on to find new prey.
It may not sort out the bully, but feelings of self worth are the best defence against bullies, who in turn are probably suffering even lower self-esteem.
But you can’t say all that to kids – they switch off- so I made my hero a little Ginger cat and the bully an enormous kitten called Tiddles. The stories are fun as well as deep and thoughtful. Children do not respond to books that preach or to obviously “teach”
go have a look http://bit.ly/TheGingerNinja