.
By LUCY ORMONDE
13-year-old Gabrielle Jackson is being bullied at school. The reason? Her body makes her stand out.
Gabrielle is only in the 6th grade but her breasts are extremely large.
Gabrielle Jackson’s mother, Tammie called the school district office to make a complaint. She told them that her daughter was being sexually harrassed in the school yard on an ongoing basis and asked them to step in and do something to help.
The school was sympathetic to the plight of Tammie Jackson’s daughter and made two suggestions: they could arrange for Gabrielle to transfer to another school or perhaps Tammie might consider getting her daughter a breast reduction. To stop the bullying.
The Huffington Post reports:
Tammie Jackson tells KTVI that her 13-year-old daughter Gabrielle has been harassed by peers since last semester, particularly for her large breasts. When she called the Riverview Gardens School District to complain about the problem, the woman on the other end said the girl could be transferred to another school from Central Middle School, or go under the knife.
“It makes me feel like now you are telling me it’s my fault, it’s God’s fault the way he made her.” Jackson told KTVI. “[The school should] talk with the kids, let them know, you know, people’s bodies are changing, everybody’s body is different but God made us all great.”
Riverview Gardens Superintendent Clive Coleman tells the station that officials are investigating the incident, though he suspects it was “a product of miscommunication, interpretation of information.” Meanwhile, students are being counseled on ways to resolve the bullying problem.
Late last year, Mamamia ran a post about a 14-year-old girl who did have surgery to overcome bullying.
For years Nadia Ilse had been called “Dumbo Ears” by the kids at school because of the way her ears stuck out from her head. So earlier this year she underwent $40,000 worth of plastic surgery to make the bullying stop. She had an otoplasty – an operation to pin her ears back – and she also had a rhinoplasty (to reduce the size of her nose) and a mentoplasty (which altered the shape of her chin).
The surgery was paid for by the Little Baby Face Foundation, a charity that “transforms the lives of children born with facial deformities through corrective surgery”. They flew Nadia and her mother from their hometown of Georgia to New York City where she had the operation.
The week after Nadia went back to school and faced her bullies for the first time since the operation, she said: “A lot of people said that I looked different and that I was really beautiful, I’m excited about that… I believe in forgiveness, but I will never forget the times that they did that, the times they made fun of me, and the times they hurt me. You have to make them earn it.”
Critics suggested Nadia’s surgery sent the wrong message to bullies and victims because it validates everything the kids were being bullied about to begin with. It’s telling the victims they aren’t good enough. It’s making the bullies right. And there are no guarantees it would actually make the bullying stop.
After the surgery, Nadia became something of a poster girl for the charity. But her surgeries have also brought about the question of whether plastic surgery is the best method to reduced the instance of bulling in schools – and more generally in society.
And to what extent should it even be allowed for young people, whose bodies haven’t finished developing fully yet?
Comments
29 Comments so far
The girl is 13 years old. 13. THIRTEEN. Instead of the teachers/staff at the school teaching the kids that you shouldn’t bully others for the way they look, they ask the girl who’s being bullied to change the way she is. She didn’t ask for this. She’s just a little girl. It’s not her fault. Her body shouldn’t have to change. Poor girl. And suggesting surgery? You’re kidding me. No. Instead of telling a girl to get surgery, they should be teaching children to be respectful and not judge others.
loading...
I had 10C breasts when I was age 12 (am now 14E at age 27) and was teased as well, had kids snap my bra straps, was mortally afraid of swimming carnivals, etc. In my first year at high school, when I went up to a D, a compulsory sport was Trampolining. I ask you, who decided that 13 yr-olds whose bodies are changing, who are shy and insecure should do that as a sport?! How cruel!
Well, anyway, the story has a happy ending as now I love my body and my “wonder-jugs”. My mother passed away at age 58 from breast cancer, so that really put things in perspective.
Plastic surgery is an option, i suppose, but should not be the first thing considered when a child is teased and bullied. Sometimes it really is required, such as for a harelip or a cleft palate or similar, or having teeth removed and wearing braces for an over-crowded jaw. The problem here isn’t this girls breasts (hopefully in time she will come to love them, as boobies are AWESOME) the problem is the school is not combating sexual harassment in the schoolyard. Don’t blame the boobs, blame the bullies. And come down like a tone of bricks on the little sh*ts whose inappropriate behavior is causing this girl such grief. I’m glad her mum seems supportive of her daughters assets (pardon the pun).
loading...
Pah! Change their bodies or faces? They’re STILL GROWING!
It took me high school to grow into my body and face – my eyes were too big (my hands are still bigger than 95% of the men I meet) and my cheeks looked rather like those of a chipmunk… I was AWKWARD!
I turned out ok, I reckon. But I look pretty different from when I was 13.
No one under the age of 21 should be able to have plastic sugery (unless it’s reconscructive following a REAL accident or deformity or something like a cleft palate) – because you NEVER know how you’re gonna turn out til you stop growing.
Most of us aren’t that pretty during puberty – it helps build character and at the other end, most of us turn out pretty freaking adorable!
If they let young girls turn to surgery young, those girls will ALWAYS think surgery is the answer. It is not.
loading...
I completely agree. I was the same, I was routinely picked on, by strangers for being incredibly skinny and having large lips. Not a great look. But both of these factors have since been what I’m complimented on most.
The issue is that while some of us do grow into our looks, many people don’t. But that doesnt mean they don’t go on to live fulfilling lives, be loved and considered beautiful by people, inside and out. It’s sad that we live in a society where its acceptable for a 14 year old to change the way she looks because others arent ok with it.
loading...
telling kids not to get bullied instead of bullies not to bully is basically the same as telling women not to get raped instead of telling men not to rape. It is just ridiculous.
loading...
I had a breast reduction at the age of 17. I was a very sporty girl, tall and around a size 12. I had a DD cup size. At the time I felt it was the best thing that could have happened to me, but the massive scars caused me years of shame with intimacy and this internalised a low self esteem and emotional eating. When I had my baby they grew back to their original size and are now even larger. Although I am finally starting to love my body again (I turn 40 this year), I wish I had never have pushed my mum into signing the papers. I wish I had a professional that could have told me to wait and see how I felt about my breasts as I grew into an adult. I was too young to make such a life changing decision….
loading...
Sorry, what’s the deformity? I can’t see it myself. To me deformity is a burn something similar.
loading...
Also, will she only ever believe she’s good enough because of the surgery!
loading...
I went from skinny and flat chested to skinny with freakishly large bosoms when i was 15. Mortifying? Yes. I consulted a surgeon vis a vis reduction. The surgeon, bless him, advised me against it as “I would grow into my body”. Not so sure about that. Still thin. Breasts still on the large side. But have made peace with it. And sale sizes are always my size.
loading...
A girl in my primary school class had her ears pinned back. She was never bullied about her ears at school and we were more interested in the ins and outs of the surgery than the reason behind it.
But suggesting that a 13-year-old girl has her breasts surgically reduced is just rediculous!!
loading...
The bullies should be the ones to move and I agree that a charity agreeing to change the girl as she was deformed is appalling I would have loved to see what she was like when she grew up without the surgery. It don’t think it would be a charity I would support.
loading...
What an awful way to deal with a bullying situation. How about dealing with the bullies instead of expecting the poor victim to change schools.
loading...
Ridiculous that she was classed as being deformed! I was bullied (as I’m sure you all were) for having no breasts, braces or anything else they could think of. I didn’t go & have implants. Unfortunately there will always be bullies & bullies have to find something about you to pick on. It doesn’t mean they’re right and at such a young age when children are still growing & changing its silly to have surgery – especially when it’s not for your own reasons.
loading...
It’s M’erica…..nuff said. If it was any other country the issue would probably have been dealt with appropriately.
loading...
yep – only in America
loading...
baloney, the British Japanese tc are all just as bad. Most Americans would never consider doing this to their kids.
loading...
Hey MM crew, I think my comment may’ve been eaten?
loading...
Hi Sharon,
I can’t seem to find it anywhere so you may have to resubmit it.
Sorry about that!
Freya – MM Intern
loading...
It’s very disturbing to me that Nadia’s ‘before’ face was classed as having a deformity. The last time I checked, having a larger nose, or elephant ears (which I might add, I have BOTH), doesn’t mean your face is deformed. Wow, that is just crazy, I can’t believe her parents would let her do that. The world really is a different place today. I got bullied at school for being larger, having large boobs, having a large nose and elephant ears – you know what I got out of that!? I learnt that there are some really shitty people out there, I also learnt that 90% of the time, people bully others because they are unhappy with themselves, it makes them feel better. People say bullying today is worse, I don’t agree. There are just more ways to bully – i.e social networking and phones. So here’s an idea – don’t let your children be consumed by these things. Honestly, there are so many things that could have been done before spending $40,000 to ‘fix’ her face when there was NOTHING wrong with it in the first place. How about spend money and time boosting her confidence so she doesn’t care what the bullies have to say… That ‘charity’ and her parents should be ashamed!
loading...
I was 10 when my boobs arrived, I went from having nothing to having a C cup in the space of the school Christmas holidays. at school it was ok, the teachers used to smack kids around the head who touched or commented (this was the mid 70s). My biggest problem was people outside of school. I got used very quickly to the sexual innuendo from random males, and to being “accidentally” groped on the bus or anywhere crowded. It didn’t seem to cross their minds that iI was still a little kid.
loading...
It was wrong of the school to suggest this, it is victim blaming, and this girl is probably too young at 13 to have the procedure. America might be different but I doubt you’d find a reputable surgeon in Australia to do the procedure on such a young teenager.
But my heart goes out to this girl because I had exactly the same issue at school. I developed bigger and earlier than everyone else. The harrassment was obscene. I went from being a happy go lucky tomboy with confidence to a freak (it felt that way to me) who hid in baggy T-shirts and refused to do sports. I couldn’t because everyone would laugh at how much ‘bounce’ there was. Boys would dare each other to try to cop a feel of me in the stairwell. It made my high school years hell. If I’d had the option of breast reduction back then, I would have taken it, but I wasn’t able (financially) to have one until I was in my late 20s. When I did finally have the reduction it changed my life for the better. I finally felt that I became the person I was supposed to be.
The sad reality is the barrage of ridicule probably won’t stop until the cause of it disappears. She either has to change or somehow have the strength to rise above it. I tried for almost 20years to take the high road but it’s a lonely path. I still have the emotional scars of those years.
loading...
I’m more shocked at the girl who had surgery paid for by a charity – she did not have a facial deformity!
loading...
I know! Was thinking the same thing. A charity like that should concentrate on children with significant deformities (which I don’t think Nadia had). For some reason it just seems a bit superficial to me and doesn’t address the core of the bullying issue.
loading...
I’m more shocked at the girl who had surgery paid for by a charity – she did not have a facial deformity!
Yes she did
His photo of here taken before the operation shows it more clearly
loading...
oh! i look at this and see/hear what others have said about me…yet I’ve maintained a commercial modelling income that far surpasses my qualified degree.Have others found this? or am i just luck?…
loading...
A very average looking young lady but hardly “deformed”.
loading...
That’s not having a facial deformity, that’s just having a face.
loading...
It really frustrates and distresses me when a school’s response to bullying is to suggest that the victim should change. This is victim-blaming and it is completely inappropriate. The people who are doing the bullying are the ones who should be expected to change their behaviour as picking on someone because of their appearance (or personality or anything else for that matter) is not acceptable. People need to be taught that bullying will not be tolerated. Victims of bullying already feel hurt so to have the school imply that it is their fault that they are being bullied just makes the situation worse.
loading...
Dafuq?
loading...