“TV Bullies: Glee & the Perpetuation of Bullying” by Gerald Walton, Rethinking Pop Culture and Media, Part 4
One of the main arguments Walton constructs through this fascinating article is that Glee is a television series that demonstrates the dangerous nature of portraying bullying as something an individual must have courage to overcome to build character. This television series is groundbreaking in many ways but one of which is through the character of Kurt Hummel played by Chris Colfer. Kurt is a flamboyant gay high schooler who gets bullied through his expression of femininity. The series demonstrates this through routine scenes of Kurt being thrown in the dumpster, pushed against the locker, or called derogatory names, which makes it seem to the viewer that these acts are regular and just something that Kurt has to deal with because of being gay. The experiences Kurt had in high school are not foreign to many queer youth. However, Walton argues that Glee has misconstrued the way bullying is viewed and that many acts of homophobia that youth experience should be classified as acts of sexual harassment and/or assault instead of bullying.
Another main theme that Walton mentions is that the use of the term bullying has been commodified due to the nature of identifying acts of sexual violence as bullying rather than harassment It was slightly disturbing to learn that bullying has become profitable for corporations as anti-bullying rhetoric has increased in the past few decades. Corporations desire keeping the public anxious and concerned with bullying so that they can sell anti-bullying tool kits, books, and programs to schools so that they can have resources to prevent bullying. What these do not address is the systemic roots of bullying.
Many schools have adopted zero-tolerance policies for bullying due to the surge of reported cases of bullying in the media for example, but the problem with the way in which bullying is handled in schools according to Walton is that it is often handled in punitive and regulatory manners. Walton states, “However, regulating behavior fails to account for social prejudices such as homophobia that inform violent acts routinely labeled as bullying” (p. 194). For example, Walton describes the “boys will be boys” rhetoric that has persisted which gives boys passes commit sexual harassment or be homophobic. This behavior can be regulated and not tolerated by a school through punishment but will likely continue without systemically addressing this nature.
Finally, Walton gives suggestions on how to address bullying so that the “boys will be boys” mentality can not show up in schools, which involves a combination of intervention and prevention strategies. One of the main suggestions that Walton provides is for schools to adopt Gay Straight Alliances where students can organize, discuss, and take action with issues on school climate for queer students. The bottom line is that students who perform gender in different ways and/or have differing sexualities deserve community wide education on queer topics so that their success in education is supported.
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