Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Things you have been bullied or ridiculed about

209 replies

Frenchboat · 12/07/2016 21:03

My dc is starting school soon and has inherited my wild, curly hair. I'm worried she will be bullied like I was.

Having curls has made me feel ugly and ashamed all my life. I was called names and even had my hair yanked. I was called ugly. All because my hair didn't lie straight. I really hope things have moved on a dc won't go through the same thing.

So I guess I want to know what things you have been picked on about as a child or even now, as these things make you feel
Inferior, things can deeply hurt for years.How did you regain confidence?

OP posts:
WhatchaMaCalllit · 13/07/2016 15:55

I got bullied for not having a boyfriend when 'everyone else' in my class in secondary school had one.

I grew up in a house with only sisters and no brothers (so no brothers friends popping around) and I was supposed to know 'everything' about boyfriends and sex by the time I was in 1st Year of secondary school....how???? I was very inexperienced and only started to date when I was in college (3rd level). But I remember one afternoon when all of the girls in the class started to pose question after question about sex, positions etc. etc. etc. I was bullied and I hated it.

EmmaWoodlouse · 13/07/2016 16:00

Some people who knew me at school think I was bullied but I don't think I was. I was teased about various different things over the years by different people, but I don't think of it as bullying if (1) it's not consistent over time by the same person and (2) the intended victim isn't in the least distressed by it. I just tended to assume that anyone who wasn't being very nice to me wasn't a very nice person and therefore I didn't much care what they thought.

For what it's worth my hair is ginger and curly and I literally cannot remember a time when I was ever criticised about either of those things, except by my mum when I grew my hair a bit longer - she thought curly hair looked "messy" unless it was kept very short. I got some negative comments about it being so short though! I've had longish hair almost all my adult life just because I can! Grin

Some of the things people attempted to tease me about over the years:

having a surname that could be shortened to "willy"
(when I was fairly little) having the same first name as a popular doll at the time
over-reacting in an entertaining way when someone called me by a name similar to mine but not quite right
having a Southern (but not particularly posh) accent in the Midlands
"having no friends" (by people who didn't want to be my friends, so whose fault was that?!)
not having pierced ears
having pierced ears and thus having "sold out"
"liking Beethoven" (I'm not that keen on Beethoven, but to people who don't like any classical music, anyone who plays in the orchestra or is suspected of being a bit middle-class automatically likes Beethoven
liking heavy metal - some people thought I was faking it because I didn't look the part
overprotective parents
eccentric brother
not wearing really skinny jeans (it was the early 80s)
fancying someone who was considered a bit out of my league
fancying someone a bit odd-looking who nobody else fancied

But really, much more often than I was actively teased I just seemed to be "invisible" and not noticed at all, and that annoyed be a lot more!

areyoubeingserviced · 13/07/2016 16:04

My full lips.
The irony is that now every Thomasina ,Dickensia and Harriett wants big lips
People now ask me who my cosmetic surgeon is.

allwornout0 · 13/07/2016 16:06

Bullied because I did not live in a council house.

Knittedfrog · 13/07/2016 16:12

Being the only child in primary school from a one parent family.

Lazy eye

Braces

Only having a couple of outfits to wear out of school and they definitely were not up to date.

Being poor.

Smelling of smoke. (Child of a heavy smoker)

RavenclawRemedials · 13/07/2016 16:32

Being nerdy. Using too many long words (which apparently included 'military' and 'dictatorship' in an English lesson where we were discussing the news). Not being remotely interested in the charts and liking Beethoven more than Duran Duran ('go on then, sing Beethoven's Ninth!' Hmm I told them I didn't have an hour to spare, or an orchestra in my pocket, and those top C's in the final movement were hard enough for trained sopranos. But I couldn't argue with stupid). Nobody dared directly tease me about my hearing impairment but I got sucked into far too many games of what was then called Chinese Whispers, which made me feel very exposed. Not enjoying dirty jokes (it's a different story now). Not having much knowledge of smutty or taboo words (they used to spell them out and try to trap me into saying them out loud when I really wasn't comfortable with it). Not having boyfriends (they used to ask about how much sexual experience I'd had). Some of this would be verging on criminal harassment now. Sad

You can get bullied about anything. Literally anything. Which is why it's no use trying to change what they bully you about.

Kennington · 13/07/2016 16:40

Having knock knees and therefore walking funny!!
I used to laugh it off and take the mick out of myself and actually that really worked well. I had the confidence to pull it off. I also used the line ' well you are no oil painting either' a lot.
Went on for bloody years.
Knees are still knocked but have learned to walk better now.

Acornantics · 13/07/2016 16:43

Being tall, being 'posh' (northern, but no discernible accent), liking school, having curly hair before the frizz ease days! Using a wide vocabulary, I used to get teased mercilessly for using 'posh' words at school Hmm.

ijustwannadance · 13/07/2016 17:20

In secondary, I was never bullied by girls only boys. I think it was because 2 of my friend group were considered fit and the other was loud so I got all the shit.
They even made up a song about me which I got sang to me all the way through to 6th form.
I had a big nose, too skinny, shit hair, spots, was too posh (I lived on a council estate!), swat, fridgid blah blah blah.
Fortunately I was smart and stubborn as fuck. I also blossomed in my early 20's.

It also amazes me how so many people who behaved like such arseholes in their youth and made school hell decide to send friend requests on fb. They can fuck right off.

MidnightPanda · 13/07/2016 17:29

Bullied for being too dark and being ugly Sad

FairyDogMother11 · 13/07/2016 22:03

Ah yes, I too have been made fun of for being posh my whole life even despite the council estate upbringing, deadbeat dad etc!

Longdistance · 13/07/2016 22:13

My ears, as they were big and stuck out a bit. I had surgery to sort them out in the end.

The bully now shovels horse shit for a living Grin

Zuccarelli · 13/07/2016 22:51

Having spots at primary school. Then called a slag all the time at secondary for having big breasts as I was a DD at age 13.

My sister was bullied for being a gypsy. We're not even gyspies (not that that would make it ok to be bullied). That was by an older boy. My dad made him apologies to her in front of all his friends. He never did it again.

Hockeydude · 13/07/2016 22:58

What the actual fuck is wrong with children who tease others like this?

Mislou · 13/07/2016 23:02

Being too thin. Being called a 'Lesbo' because I hadn't kissed a boy at 14 years old. ??!!

Mislou · 13/07/2016 23:07

My DP who is not British, thinks that the UK is the worst place for bullying , saying he was shocked at how many British people he's met were bullied in school.

pandarific · 13/07/2016 23:38

Being odd, quiet, interested in unfashionable things. Having no discernible accent.

Have several times got close to a new female friend only to have their other female friend behave very aggressively toward me - OH says jealous of me, I have no idea. Maybe just playground 'she's MY friend' stuff.

donthaveto · 13/07/2016 23:43

are you being racist? I am sick to the back teeth of people whinging on about "Northerners"

Bestthingever · 13/07/2016 23:44

I was teased for being too posh all through primary school. No one who knows me now can fathom it! Grin

Curlgurl · 13/07/2016 23:55

Was called posh girl. I live in Essex but don't sound like an Essex girl. My parents drummed it into me to speak correctly, was threatened with elocution lessons at 17 when my speech started slipping slightly

EnthusiasmDisturbed · 14/07/2016 00:18

For living with my grandparents

I would be teased about not knowing my dad or having my mum around Sad

Being small and having a funny name

Being flat chested then two years later for having huge boobs

WhingySquirrel · 14/07/2016 01:38

Being fat
Being quiet
Being thin (after developing an eating disorder)

Being a 'mosher'.
Having a Dad that hit me-I was told i'd get taken away and it made me wake up in cold sweats every night
Liking animals
Generally being weird.

I like being weird now, and I'm healthy, so screw the lot of them :)

Alasalas2 · 14/07/2016 01:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

watchingthedetectives · 14/07/2016 01:49

Having a regional accent at a posh university - slightly amazed when when everyone fell about laughing when I answered a fairly straightforward question.
Assumptions made about my class background on basis of said accent - not that I really gave a toss.

PastaLaFeasta · 14/07/2016 04:04

Another for being posh, except I wasn't and never lived anywhere except in my northern home town with working class parents. Having no accent was later very useful - I'm in the south now.

But also for everything I did or said (it felt like) - my socks, my acne, my accent, having scruffy hair. Although most bullying was more subtle and cruel - exclusion, denying it was happening, lying to teachers about what I said/did. Kids were just mean and I was an easy target - no confidence or self esteem thanks to my home life - dad took the piss constantly and was quite abusive. My mum was severely mentally ill and I became a target for that too. I'm now hyper aware of anything people could judge me for or take the piss out of, bullying does not make you stronger it damages you. I worry for my DDs and am far too concerned about appearance than I should be - DD1 has the same scruffy hair and I'm already aware she isn't wearing branded trainers and this could be an issue.