Your UnSlut Project

Submitted by Anonymous

In 6th grade, I was one of "those" girls who tried everything in their power to become "popular." I would watch others interacting with each other and I envied the popular kids at my school. Growing up I wasn't like all the other kids, I was that weird girl with the ugly hair cut, ugly clothes, and the funny accent.

That summer after 6th grade ended, I planned to finally fit in with everyone else and make the best memories. Ones where I can look back and say, "Those were the good times."

To put it in simple words, that summer was probably the worst summer ever. The students in my class were so mean. They picked on me because I was the easy target. I didn't dress like them nor did I act like them, so I became their scapegoat and lap dog. It started off with verbal abuse, "ugly" "stupid" "attention whore" "dumb ass" "cunt". Then it became sexual harassment.

Some of the students there, girls and boys, would grope me, touch me, and push me around when they found opportunities. The more I told them to stop, the worse the bullying became.

It became a game for everyone else to see who could get the best reaction out of me.

Everyone in my class knew what was going on but no one said anything. No one stood up for me. Even the teacher knew I was being picked on, yet he brushed it off his shoulder and continued with his lesson plans.

The worst part was that I never said anything. I was afraid to tell my mom because of what she would do. I knew my mom would stop the bullying, but she wouldn't be able to stop the aftermath. Where the kids would then start to exclude me from everyone else and secretly gossip about me in the restrooms, not that that wasn't happening at the time.

But I just wanted to be "popular" and liked. The whole summer I endured the bullying and the harassment. I didn't want to be shunned out by everyone else in the summer school like I had been at school. I kept telling myself that at least if I put up with the bullying and harassment, then I wouldn't have to be alone.

Little did I know, that I really was alone and that no one was there for me at that summer school.

I ended up running away from my problems. I feigned sickness and made up elaborate excuses. Yet every time I went on Facebook, I would hover my mouse on the "unfriend" button, but I never could find the strength to click it.

Thinking back, I wish I could've gone back and changed things. But at the same time, my experiences have shaped who I am today. I may have a small group of friends, but they make me feel important and valued. I didn't have to click the "unfriend" button, because my friends helped me pull the plug and cut off all the connections I had with my bullies.

I realized that my bullies in that summer school were like me. They just wanted to be popular and liked, and the way they all bonded with each other was by picking on me.

I don't know what to tell you or what advice to give, but I think this quote says it all: "Nothing sucks more than feeling alone no matter how many people are around." - Scrubs