Bullying through prejudice: the role of heteronormativity, racism, and ageism

Abstract Bullying is a complex phenomenon that is fed by social discourses on normative and non-normative identities. However, it has so far been studied from a simplistic perspective, especially focused on micro variables related to the individual, the family, or the school. In this study, we analyzed the profile of students who engage in bullying behavior, examining how this profile differs by gender and is influenced by several forms of prejudice, considering bullies’ adherence to gender stereotypes and their sexist (hostile and benevolent), homophobic, racist (blatant and subtle), and ageist (hostile and benevolent) attitudes. The study sample consisted of 2141 Spanish adolescents, of whom 50.5% identified as female, 47% as male, and 2.5% chose other identity options. Their mean age was 14.7 years, and they were attending 3rd and 4th grades of Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE). The two-way MANOVA (Gender x Bullying) reveals significant interactions, showing that girls and boys who engage in bullying behavior hold fewer expressive gender stereotypes and significantly more homophobic and more racist attitudes, both blatant and subtle, than students who do not bully. Likewise, the data show greater similarities between male and female bullies, whereas the group of boys and girls who do not bully their peers is more heterogeneous. The results of our work highlight the urgency of going beyond generic bullying prevention programs by designing interventions that recognize the influence of prejudices about normative and non-normative identities in the genesis of violence, aimed at disrupting normality regimes and following an intersectional, critical, and queer pedagogy.