Tolerance to Alliance: Deconstructing Dichotomies to Advocate for All Students

This noun represents the process of repeated negative aggression directed toward an individual person who, under pressure, ends his or her torment through suicide. Another less common spelling is bullicide, which I prefer as it gives less visual weight to the perpetrator(s). While cyberbullying victimization is around 24% among teens in general (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010), the percentage more than doubles to 53% for teens who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (Kosciw, Greytak, Diaz, & Bartkiewicz, 2010). When the harassment and assault occur in schools, 62% of these students believe school staff will take no action; 34% reported that when an incident did occur at school, school staff did indeed do nothing in response (Kosciw et al., 2010). In a world of twenty-first-century issues, teachers can better prepare themselves and their students to navigate certain social hurdles by incorporating queer theory into their discussions concerning individual differences. Students who deviate from the social norm are the most likely to suffer from bullying, and the queer lens can better prepare teachers to stand up and advocate for these youth. This article will provide a brief background on the theory, give an introduction to central ideas of the theory connecting them to bullicide, and suggest several steps that can be taken immediately to foster a more inclusive learning environment.