The language used to describe complex situations has an important role in shaping
the way we think about them. Therefore, in KITE Fighters we are very conscious
about the terms we use to describe bullying dynamics. In the scientific research
about this phenomenon you can often find phrases such as “the bully” or “the
perpatrator” and „the victim”. We want to avoid using these, as they are assigning
fixed roles to individual kids: it conveys the meaning that once you are a bully, you
are always going to be a bully, or once you are a victim, you are always going to be
a victim. The dynamics of bullying is much more complex than that: for example,
in some situations a child might be bullied, while in others s/he becomes the person
who bullies, to re-establish her/his sense of control. To avoid such oversimplification,
we are going to use the terms “the kid / child who bullies” and the “the kid
/ child who is bullied” or “the targeted kid / child” – always describing the role that
individual kid is in, in that particular situation.