Is bullying new in our society?
Tasnia Al Sultana ।। Recently, a post has gone viral in the social media. A fourteen years old boy named Samin breathed last his on 26th June at United Hospital, Dhaka. He had been suffering from a rare disease named “Anorexia Nervosa.” To be very honest, I did not hear the name before even for a once. When I saw the name for the first time on the post I instantly searched on Google. What I found through searching is, Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder, a phobia of getting fat. The patients of AN usually refrain themselves from eating, no matter how much weight is lost, they continue to fear gaining weight.
AN starts with wicked mental state but it no longer confines in mental stigma. Gradually the disease turns out into acute physical distress which leads having distaste in eating, nausea, insomnia, fluctuation of blood pressure etc. Now the question is, how Samin got affected by such rare malignant disease? This is very simple to answer. Each and every time he continuously got bullied by his classmates and teachers in school because of his excessive weight. Even when he wanted to put his name in the football team list, he had been mocked by his class teacher so rudely that he thought of committing suicide. It was just because he did not have that “physical fitness” to play football.
We do not even think of the other person’s mental condition when we mock someone. We always forget that a human mind can easily adapt anything. Human mind can be filled with joy by the littlest kind of appreciation; similarly it can get affected with the silliest matter. Almighty has created us in such way. But in our country, we do never take metal stigma seriously. If Samin’s parents kept their eyes on his mental condition, may be they would have been able to save their child’s life. Lastly, when they took the matter seriously, it was too late.
The above circumstance was just an example of social bullying. It got viral in social media so we came to know about this matter. But is bullying new in our society? No matter you are a boy or a girl, tall or short, fat or skinny, fair or dark, this judgmental society would never spare you. They would always ready to judge you even with your slightest lacking, knowing that everyone is not perfect.
When I was born, my skin tone was not that much fair. It is very regretful that a child is considered “nadush-nudush” by its skin tone in our society. My parents had no problem with my dark skin but my relatives were not happy with me as if it is only my fault to have dark skin tone. I have been getting myself prepared to listen or face some awkward comments or observations from my relatives since my childhood, whenever I attend any family function. I still remember, once I visited one of my aunts’ place. She offered me tea but I politely refused to take tea. Then she replied to me with a taunt “I understand, you do not take tea because you do not want to be darker. No matter how much you try, you would never be fair skinned.”
I have never taken the taunts of my relatives seriously because my parents have brought me up in such a way that skin tone never seemed a serious issue to me. A person’s creativity, way of thinking, mentality, knowledge and adaptability are always in my priority list if I start to judge any person. May be that is why, all that cacophonic stuffs of my relatives never affected my mind.
But I cannot judge anyone comparing with my own way of acceptability. There are many girls who feel hesitate with their skin tone, may be that is the reason skin whitening products are always remaining at the highest peak of popularity. These products cause skin cancer or other acute skin disease but yet girls do not stop using them because they want to regenerate themselves with white skin tone otherwise this society will judge them for having dark skin.
The whole attire of Azmeri Huq Badhan at Cannes Film Festival in France got so much popularity that everyone is randomly sharing her photos with mesmerizing captions. Even I shared the photos on my timeline. But there are very few who think that the path of representing own country at Cannes and getting standing ovation from the audience were not that easy. If we think with our own societal perception, Badhan is not supposed to be at Cannes Film Festival after so many struggles, clashes and obstacles of life. But she proved herself with her passion, confidence, creativity, compatibility and most of all, her overturning capacity.
We all are beautiful in our own way. What we have to change is our own social aspect. We must have that confidence to overturn all those ungrudgingly negativities; this is the only way to get rid of social bullying, to save our lives.
(The views and opinions expressed by the writers are those of their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Feminist Factor)
