Pink Shirt Day

Last updated
Pink Shirt Day
Pink shirt day.jpg
Observed byCanada, New Zealand
DateLast Wednesday of February (Canada) [1]
Third Friday of May (New Zealand) [2]
FrequencyAnnual
First timeSeptember 13, 2007;16 years ago (2007-09-13)
Started byDavid Shepherd and Travis Price

Pink Shirt Day is an annual event against bullying, held in Canada and New Zealand. [1] [2] Participants wear pink shirts and attend or host informative events to raise awareness about bullying, particularly in schools. Pink Shirt Day was started in 2007 in Canada, where it is held on the last Wednesday of February each year. [3] It was adopted in New Zealand in 2009 and is observed annually on the third Friday of May. [3]

Contents

History

The original event was organized in 2007 by two grade 12 students named David Shepherd and Travis Price of Berwick, Nova Scotia, who bought and distributed 50 pink shirts after a ninth-grade student Chuck McNeill was bullied for wearing a pink polo shirt during the first day of school at Central Kings Rural High School in Cambridge, Nova Scotia. [4] [5] That year, Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald proclaimed the second Thursday of September (aligning with the start of each school year) as "Stand Up Against Bullying Day" in recognition of these events. [6]

In 2008, then-Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell proclaimed February 27 to be the provincial Anti-Bullying Day. [7] In 2009, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada worked on pink t-shirts that say "Bullying Stops Here." and "Pink Shirt Day" for Anti-Bullying Day. [8]

In May 2009, New Zealand celebrated its first Pink Shirt Day. [3]

In 2012, the United Nations declared May 4 as U.N. Anti-Bullying Day. [9] Similarly, UNESCO declared the first Thursday of November as the International Day against Violence and Bullying at School Including Cyberbullying. [10]

Purpose

A pink shirt anti-bullying sign at the Oshawa Centre in 2016 Anti-bullying poster at Oshawa Centre.jpg
A pink shirt anti-bullying sign at the Oshawa Centre in 2016

Anti-Bullying Day was instituted to prevent further bullying. The United States Department of Justice showed that one out of four kids will be bullied during their adolescence. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bullying</span> Use of force or coercion to abuse or intimidate others

Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception of an imbalance of physical or social power. This imbalance distinguishes bullying from conflict. Bullying is a subcategory of aggressive behavior characterized by hostile intent, imbalance of power and repetition over a period of time.

School violence includes violence between school students as well as attacks by students on school staff and attacks by school staff on students. It encompasses physical violence, including student-on-student fighting, corporal punishment; psychological violence such as verbal abuse, and sexual violence, including rape and sexual harassment. It includes many forms of bullying and carrying weapons to school. The one or more perpetrators typically have more physical, social, and/or psychological power than the victim. It is a widely accepted serious societal problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved.

Anti-Bullying Week is an annual UK event held in the third week in November which aims to raise awareness of bullying of children and young people, in schools and elsewhere, and to highlight ways of preventing and responding to it. Anti-Bullying Week is organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) in England, which is made up of about 140 member organizations. In Northern Ireland the event is coordinated by the Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum (NIABF), made up of 25 member organisations from the voluntary and statutory sectors.

Act Against Bullying (AAB) is a United Kingdom charity. It was founded in 2003 by Louise Burfitt-Dons. The charity's purpose is to help bullied children by providing them with confidential advice and to raise public awareness of the problem. The AAB website offers supportive messages and information on all forms of systematic bullying, in particular psychological bullying. The site also features advice on forms of bullying such as exclusion bullying and cyberbullying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School bullying</span> Type of bullying in an educational setting

School bullying, like bullying outside the school context, refers to one or more perpetrators who have greater physical strength or more social power than their victim and who repeatedly act aggressively toward their victim. Bullying can be verbal or physical. Bullying, with its ongoing character, is distinct from one-off types of peer conflict. Different types of school bullying include ongoing physical, emotional, and/or verbal aggression. Cyberbullying and sexual bullying are also types of bullying. Bullying even exists in higher education. There are warning signs that suggest that a child is being bullied, a child is acting as a bully, or a child has witnessed bullying at school.

International STAND UP to Bullying Day is a special semi-annual event in which participants sign and wear a pink "pledge shirt" to take a visible, public stance against bullying. The event takes place in schools, workplaces, and organizations in 25 countries around the globe on the third Friday of November to coincide with Anti-Bullying Week, and then again on the last Friday of February.

Central Kings Rural High School (CKRHS), commonly locally referred to as just "CK", is a secondary school located in Cambridge, Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It serves students from grades 6 to 12. CK's students come from the Somerset, Cambridge, Waterville, Coldbrook and North/South Alton areas of Kings County. Students from Somerset District Elementary School and Cambridge District Elementary School feed into the school at grade 6, while students at Coldbrook District School feed into the school at grade 9.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual bullying</span> Bullying associated with sexual activity or orientation

Sexual bullying is a form of bullying or harassment in connection with a person's sex, body, sexual orientation or with sexual activity. It can be physical, verbal or emotional in nature, and occurs in various settings, including schools, workplaces, and online platforms. Sexual bullying can have serious and lasting effects on the mental and emotional well-being of victims.

Bullying suicide are considered together when the cause of suicide is attributable to the victim having been bullied, either in person or via social media. Writers Neil Marr and Tim Field wrote about it in their 2001 book Bullycide: Death at Playtime.

Cyberstalking and cyberbullying are relatively new phenomena, but that does not mean that crimes committed through the network are not punishable under legislation drafted for that purpose. Although there are often existing laws that prohibit stalking or harassment in a general sense, legislators sometimes believe that such laws are inadequate or do not go far enough, and thus bring forward new legislation to address this perceived shortcoming. In the United States, for example, nearly every state has laws that address cyberstalking, cyberbullying, or both.

Anti-bullying legislation is a legislation enacted to help reduce and eliminate bullying. This legislation may be national or sub-national and is commonly aimed at ending bullying in schools or workplaces.

Cyberbullying is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers and adolescents, due to young people's increased use of social media. Related issues include online harassment and trolling. In 2015, according to cyberbullying statistics from the i-Safe Foundation, over half of adolescents and teens had been bullied online, and about the same number had engaged in cyberbullying. Both the bully and the victim are negatively affected, and the intensity, duration, and frequency of bullying are three aspects that increase the negative effects on both of them.

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation is a national Australian charity which was launched on 30 April 1997.

The International Day of Pink is a worldwide anti-bullying and anti-homophobia event held annually during the second week of April. Though similar to Pink Shirt Day in that it also seeks to end all bullying, the Day of Pink is more specifically aimed towards anti-LGBTQ+ bullying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide of Amanda Todd</span> Suicide of a Canadian student in 2012

Amanda Michelle Todd was a 15-year-old Canadian student and victim of cyberbullying who hanged herself at her home in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. A month before her death, Todd posted a video on YouTube in which she used a series of flashcards to tell her experience of being blackmailed into exposing her breasts via webcam, and of being bullied and physically assaulted. The video went viral after her death, resulting in international media attention. The original video has had more than 15 million views as of May 2023, although mirrored copies of the video had received tens of millions of additional views shortly after her death; additionally, a YouTube video by React has a video of teens reacting to Todd's video which has garnered 44.7 million views as of May 2023, and various videos from news agencies around the world regarding the case have registered countless millions more. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and British Columbia Coroners Service launched investigations into the suicide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons</span> Suicide of a student in Canada

Rehtaeh Anne Parsons, was a 17-year-old Cole Harbour District High School student who attempted suicide by hanging at her home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, on April 4, 2013, leading to a coma and the decision to switch her life support machine off on April 7, 2013. Her death has been attributed to online distribution of photos of an alleged gang rape that occurred 17 months prior to her suicide, in November 2011. On a Facebook page set up in tribute to her daughter, Parsons' mother blamed the four boys who allegedly raped and released images of her, the subsequent constant "bullying and messaging and harassment", and the failure of the Canadian justice system, for her daughter's decision to die by suicide.

Bullying in higher education refers to the bullying of students as well as faculty and staff taking place at institutions of higher education such as colleges and universities. It is believed to be common although it has not received as much attention from researchers as bullying in some other contexts. This article focuses on bullying of students; see Bullying in academia regarding faculty and staff.

Unity Day, the signature event of National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, has been recognized in the United States since 2011. To participate in Unity Day, individuals, schools, communities, and businesses wear or share orange to unite for kindness, acceptance, and inclusion to prevent students being bullied. One in five school-age children report being bullied at school.

The International Day Against Violence and Bullying at School, including Cyberbullying is a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) holiday celebrated every year on the first Thursday of November.

References

  1. 1 2 "Pink Shirt Day". Pink T-Shirt Day Society.
  2. 1 2 "Pink Shirt Day". Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.
  3. 1 2 3 "About | Pink Shirt Day". www.pinkshirtday.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  4. "Bullied student tickled pink by schoolmates' T-shirt campaign". CBC News. September 19, 2007.
  5. CBC Kids team (February 24, 2021). "What is Pink Shirt Day?".
  6. "Stand Up Against Bullying Day Proclaimed". Province of Nova Scotia. 2007.
  7. Fowlie, Jonathan (2008). "Wear pink to fight bullying, minister says". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 2008-03-05.
  8. "Province Declares Anti-Bullying Day". 2009-02-23. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  9. "Anti Bullying Day". 2012.
  10. UNESCO (2020-11-12). "International day against violence and bullying at school including cyberbullying". UNESCO. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  11. S.P. Limber, P. Cunningham, V. Florx, J. Ivey, M. Nation, S. Chai, and G. Melton, "Bullying among school children: Preliminary findings from a school-based intervention program," paper presented at the Fifth International Family Violence Research Conference, Durham, NH, June/July 1997.