CARIMAC Times 2016: The JREAM Edition Journalists Reviving Awareness of what Matters | Page 27

talking about lesbians holding hands and kissing
all over campus, and I was like, ‘I’ve never
seen that.’ And [they speak of] flamboyant
gays ridiculing us [heterosexual people]… by
asserting their sexuality in a way that they know
we feel uncomfortable with… When you probe
deeper, it’s one person that’s said something
like that… [and] you find that a lot of cases are
just hearsay.”

But Prince also found further innovative ways
to bully his peers.

She said such cases of misrepresentation and
misinformation are cause for concern because
of the rate at which LGBT-related news spreads.

According to the results of the 2010 Global
School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS)
that was commissioned by the World Health
Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), 39 per cent of
girls admitted to being victims of bullying. Only
one per cent more boys did the same.

“Once it comes to LGBT issues, anything negative
they will believe … That is seen as being the reason
why bullying can be [considered] appropriate
behaviour.”
It is not always clear what reasons people have
for bullying someone, particularly on the basis
of perceived sexual orientation.
For Prince, it was also not clear.
“Thinking back on it now, I’m not really sure what
was my intention then, but I guess it would be
closer toward them changing their behaviour.”
He made attempts at changing the behaviour of
his peers in a number of ways. Some of those
ways are very familiar to Johnson and Lee.
“I usually call them names, make fun of them.
For example, I would ask them when they plan
to get a girl or play a Buju Banton song that
they could hear.”
He would play ‘Boom Bye Bye’ because it has
lyrics that give vivid depictions of the murder
of homosexuals.

“If they were in a fight, I would part the fight
then help to beat them.”
He was a bully without reservations.
Equitable bullying

Twenty-two-year-old Amelia Rhoden can recall
being bullied by the time she was 10 years
old. She said she would spend a considerable
amount of time hanging with boys, a practice
for which she was often scolded. They called
her several names at the time, all of which she
cannot remember.
Over the next year, Rhoden experienced some
semblance of reprieve, as there were no significant
incidents that immediately followed those
experiences.
Two years later, it was time for Rhoden to
depart primary school and begin high school
at a traditional all-girls institution in St. Andrew.
There, students attacked her in a way that echoes
Lee’s experiences — with a rumour.
Before she spoke with CARIMAC Times she
walked toward me with her head down as she
focused on her phone. She had cornrows and
wore a loose-fitting T-shirt with baggy jeans.

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