Every school year for the past fifteen the last Wednesday in February has been recognized and promoted as Pink Shirt Day aimed at curbing bullying and reducing its harmful effects on children and teens. It originated on September 13, 2007 when Grade 12 Nova Scotia students David Shepherd and Travis Price at Central Kings District High School organized a protest to show their solidarity with a Grade 9 student who was targeted, in part, for wearing a pink shirt.
Pink Shirt Day is now a cause célèbre which has mushroomed into a global “Anti-Bullying” movement. Since it’s founding, “Pink Day” has been recognized as a national day of action in Canada, attracted high-profile public sector and corporate sponsors, spread in 2009 to New Zealand, and likely influenced the United Nations in 2012 to declare May 4 as U.N. Anti-Bullying Day.
Hundreds of thousands of students and staff have participated in 15 Pink Shirt Days right across Canada and in over 100 countries of the world. Over the past few years, the bloom is beginning to come off the pink rose. A few academics and social justice advocates are asking what it’s accomplished beyond raising public consciousness.
School bullying has not declined and, in many ways, gotten worse because it’s now impacting a wider range of kids targeted for being different. In Canada, where Pink Shirt Day originated, Statistics Canada data (2021) demonstrates that the prevalence of bullying victimization has remained relatively stable over the past 12 years. more girls report being bullied, and more boys report bullying others. The percentage of students who report bullying others increases with grade for boys. Verbal bullying and cyberbullying now exceed physical forms of bullying.
Bullying is incredibly difficult to stamp out and that is borne out by recent studies. While Canadian experts on bullying prevention are reluctant to raise concerns about “Pink Shirt Day,” they do recognize that current approaches are not working and need to be more embedded into whole school culture.
York University psychology professor Debra Pepler, a specialist on aggression in children, points out that “one-off interventions” have little effect because the most effective strategies are usually implemented across the school and engage students and staff alike. Focusing on high school, where Pink Shirt Day originated, is a tougher slog because most successful interventions happen in the earlier grades.
Pink Shirt Day appeals to ‘do-good’ high school students with a social conscience. At its inception, the movement was mostly spontaneous with a touch of youthful naïveté. When a new grade 9 student, later identified variously as Chuck MacNeill or Jadrien Cota, was bullied for wearing a pink t-shirt, Shepherd and Price purchased 50 pink tank tops to distribute to their fellow students. In the wake of this show of solidarity, the grassroots protest spead far and wide.
Contemporary critics have begun to pick holes in the heartwarming story. Three years ago, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives commentator Amanda Gebhard, took exception to the popular version of the origins story. Pink t-shirts emblazoned with slogans like “Be a buddy, not a bully” and “Kindness is one size-fits all” conveyed the impression it would go away if everyone was “nice to one another.” The initial victim, she claimed, “was not bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Classmates taunted and threatened him with physical violence because they believed he was gay.” Simple acts of kindness may not get to the real root of the problem – homophobia.
Teen bullying is often viewed as a rite of passage. Developing a thicker skin and the ability to overcome harassment and negotiate your way through rough peer interactions is part of growing up. Learning to cope with normal teen stress, according to mental health practitioners, can be helpful in developing the resilience born of greater self-confidence and stronger social and emotional skills.
Children and teens suffering prolonged suffering or confronting serious mental health disorders are an entirely different problem. Fears and torments caused by repeated or incessant bullying produce serious and sometimes irreversible negative physical and mental health outcomes because of stress caused by bullying. Lone victims isolated or ostracized in normal classrooms can suffer worse effects, sometimes blaming themselves for their victimization. In extreme cases, it can and does tragically result in teens taking their own lives.
Serious and unrelenting bullying, particularly that directed at gay or transgendered kids, is an enormous social problem and not one where “being nice” makes much of a difference. Holding one day a year and dressing up for the occasion runs the risk of trivializing the issue or reducing it to performative politics. If and when that happens, Pink Shirt Day may go the way of “WE Day,” another messianic Canadian-born teen engagement phenomenon.
Reclaiming classrooms, hallways and parking lots will require more than “Pink Day” displays of solidarity. Talking about bullying does little to redress the power imbalance in schools where bullies enjoy status and influence, intimidating others into silence. Standing up for “Pink Day” may actually expose you to more bullying. Nor does it resonate as well with the politically-active trans community waving their own rainbow flags.
Pink Shirt Day is what Halifax journalist Suzanne Rent aptly described as “a performance and it looks great on social media.” Getting to the root of the problem will involve more than periodic demonstrations of solidarity to “sprinkle kindness,” however well intended. Dare I say it, again? Building a culture of positive behaviour is a far a better long-term strategy for schools. It’s also beginning to look like the best way to take back power from the bullies and ensure safer, calmer, more inclusive and purposeful school environments.
Has Pink Shirt Day run its course after fifteen years of annual one-day demonstrations of solidarity? What is the official message and does it resonate with children and teens afflicted with the worst forms of bullying, homophobia, and gender-based harassment? Can its internal contradictions be resolved in the coming years?
Educhatter 