Recent Teen Suicide a Result of Bullying
September 22, 2011 at 10:53 am 7 commentsMaking national headlines this week is the tragic suicide of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer, a victim of bullying and cyberbullying because of struggles with his sexuality. The Williamsville, New York teen was found by his parents early Monday morning after enduring unrelenting torment and bullying by his peers.
Jamey talk openly with his parents about his struggles, and had gone to his school to seek counseling. He also posted his own “It Gets Better” video in May that addressed the intense bullying he faced while sharing an overall positive message that made it seem like Jamey was doing well. However, looking closer at other avenues of social media, one can see more clearly the scary truths about how much harassment Jamey endured. Jamey cites instances of bullying on his Formspring account, including an anonymous post stating: “JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND UGLY. HE MUST DIE!” Another post reads: “I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it 
It would make everyone WAY more happier!” And on September 9th, Jamey wrote on his Tumblr account that “No one in my school cares about preventing suicide, while you’re the ones calling me [gay slur] and tearing me down” and “I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. …What do I have to do so people will listen to me?”
This tragic incident shows how prominent bullying can be for teens, both at school and on social networks, and how something needs to change. In light of Jamey’s suicide, Lady Gaga – a hero of Jamey’s whom he mentioned in his video – announced today that she will not stop fighting to make bullying illegal, encouraging use of the Twitter hashtag, #MakeALawForJamey. And Jamey’s parents Tracy and Tim hope to carry on a message of acceptance in Jamey’s memory. As Tim Rodemeyer stated this week, “To the kids who are bullying they have to realize that words are very powerful and what you think is just fun and games isn’t to some people, and you are destroying a lot of lives.”
How do you talk to teens about cyberbullying and suicide?
I’d sure like to know who that douchebag is that left the post telling this kid to kill himself. There just has to be a way to prosecute him or her, or the parents. Make it a crime to leave hateful comments like that, no matter how old you are. Anonymity on the Internet makes bullying easy, but everything you do leaves a trail. Find the ISP address of that jerk and PROSECUTE.
This is so wrong. I would never do this to a person, the people who have said these rude things should be feeling very terrible. I can’t believe someone would ever do this, it seriously hurts my feeling.
People who hate homosexuals tend to have deep rooted urges themselves. They hate that they themselves wonder about the same sex so they lash out at people who werent afraid to say they were homosexual. So i guess the moral of the story is homosexuality is acceptable these days but you have to have a certain kind of power to be safe when coming out.
It is not common nowadays to hear that a teen committed suicide as a result of bullying. What is uncommon is that schools were there are no bullies. To start with, a school should be a safe place for teens to become educated; it is not a battle field for them to fear. All we parents want is that our teens should be safe in school as they are in our home.
This is such a tragic story. With bullying becoming linked to suicide so often now, there needs to be more information out there about teen suicide prevention. There are great websites like http://onlineceucredit.com/social-work-ceus-iac that offer parents ways to intervene to help their teens. Anyone with a bullied or suicidal teen should check the website out.
Looks like I gave the wrong URL. The website is http://onlineceucredit.com/edu/social-work-ceus-iac. Sorry about that.
A local boy just died. Word is – it was most likely a result of bullying. I don’t even know him, but am greatly saddened. I can’t stop crying. It’s the second death in a year. If anyone is reading this who has lost hope because of the cruelty and stupidity of a FEW, realize that their influence on you is NOTHING compared to YOUR presence in the lives of all of the friends and family who LOVE YOU. Losing you to cruel and stupid people should not be your choice – don’t do it! Don’t let them win. The despair you feel can be helped. Their stupidity will probably be with them their entire lives. There will never be any help for those who would lose you. MANY will be devastated FOREVER. If you’re not getting the help you need, keep asking. Don’t let cruelty and stupidity win. PLEASE – just say ‘no’. You are needed here. Bless you and I wish you the best.