When I was in the third grade, I always did my class work and finished it quickly. I had just started my first year in my school’s gifted and talented program, which put a target, invisible to me, on my back. I wasn’t aware that people didn’t like me when I was in third grade. How could I have been? I had a group of close-knit friends and all the teachers liked me. As far as I knew, everyone liked me. As it turns out, that wasn’t the case.

One day during recess, I was cornered by three of my classmates, two girls and one boy, who were known for causing trouble and each Hispanic. Somehow we got out of the teacher’s eyesight. Suddenly, the girls were on either side of me, one holding my right arm and one holding my left. The next thing I knew, the boy punched me in the stomach. As quickly as I was cornered was how quickly it ended.

Although it lasted for only a moment, harming someone in any way because you don’t like something about him or her is bullying. Recently there has been a rise in Hispanic students bullying other Hispanic students. With Hispanic girls having the highest rate of attempted suicide, one has to think this rate might be directly connected to the rise in bullying.

So what’s the definition of bullying? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, bullying someone means to treat someone abusively or to affect by means of force or coercion. According to Stopbullying,gov, bullying is “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.” There are several different types of bullying such as physical, verbal, spreading rumors, excluding someone, intimidation and cyberbullying.

Why are kids being bullied? Appearance and social status are two of the main reasons people are bullied. Bullies pick on the people they think are different for some reason or do not fit in. Being able to identify who the bullies are is also a critical step in stopping bullying. Most bullies share some common characteristics. They like to dominate others and generally only care about themselves. They often have poor social skills and poor social judgment. Sometimes they are actually jealous of the person they are bullying or want to act out because they were once hurt by a bully them selves. Bullies put down others in order to feel more interesting and powerful. Today, bullying is on the rise within the Hispanic community. Sometimes young Hispanics who are second or third generation Americans are bullying others who are first generation Americans and those who aren’t citizens.

What can you do if you are being bullied or if you see someone else being bullied? I think girls need to know what bullying is so they can easily recognize bullies. They should also know what to do when they’re bullied or witness another being bullied.First, tell either your parents or a trusted adult at school. Don’t be afraid that telling on the bully will get you in trouble. Adults can often devise a way to get you or others out of the bullying situation. This can be done without the bully ever knowing how they found out about it in the first place. Also, if you or your friends are worried about the bullying escalating to violence, avoid being alone.

Tips for you/others about surviving bullying:
1. Ignore the bully and walk away: Don’t be bothered by them and eventually they’ll give up. Getting angry or physical is exactly what the bully wants.
2. Take charge of your life: Join an extracurricular activity, club, or class. These places are the best places to make friends and gain the confidence you can use to avoid bullies.
3. Talk about it: Talking to someone about what you are going through is sometimes the best therapy. Confide in someone and you’ll feel better.4
4. The best thing to do to stop bullying is to tell someone when you get bullied and don’t be afraid to speak out on someone’s behalf if they are being bullied. Speaking against a bully sometimes isn’t the easiest thing to do, but realize that many of your classmates probably feel uncomfortable when they witness someone getting bullied.

A quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel can be applied to bullying. He said, “Few are guilty, but all are responsible.” Though you may not be guilty of being a bully, it is your responsibility to do the right thing by helping those being bullied in whatever way you can. If you stand by and do nothing, you are responsible in part for that person’s pain.

Young Latinas are taking a stand against digital photo altering in magazines for teens and women to redefine what is beautiful. Many fashion magazines feature pictures that are “perfected” with the help of technology tools like Photoshop.  Digital altering can completely change the image of model from hair color to waistline and blemishes to weight. How does that affect girls? Many young girls are going on diets and even getting eating disorders in an attempt to keep up with these false standards of beauty. These Latinitas sound off sharing their frustration in seeing unrealistic images of girls in media and their thoughts on real beauty.

• “Dear Teen Magazine Editor, Please stop using Photoshop because it is damaging women’s self-esteem.” -Jenna Aguilar, age 12
• “Dear Teen Vogue, Don’t  put Photoshop pictures because girls are hurting themselves.Every one is different and people can’t relate to this. If you may, please no more Photoshopped pictures.” – Katrina Estrada, age 13
• “Dear 17 Magazine Editor, Do you know what it’s like to be charged with murder? Many girls, teens, and women take there life every single day. Why? Because they can’t “fit in.” Sure Photoshoping may not seem like a big deal but in reality, it’s bigger that it can ever seem.  It would be better if you stop but even if you don’t, maybe cutting down on Photoshop might help. Take it into consideration please!”- Sincerely, Maria.
• “Stop changing people’s look because it is causing kids to feel bad and get surgery. Please stop Photoshopping.”- Yoselin Martinez, age 13
• “Dear Teen Vogue, Can you please stop Photoshopping? It is making girls insecure because they want to be or look exactly like the models and have gone through Anorexia or Bulemia just to look like them. Can please stop? Thanks.” -Frida, age 13
• “Dear 17 magazine, Why would you change someone else’s body? They are perfect the way they are! If you don’t think so then you should be fired! Stop Photoshop!”-  Faith, age 11
• “Dear 17 magazine, Please stop changing the girls because I want to see who they really are. No more photoshop!”- Ashley, age 10
• “Please stop using Photoshop pictures, it makes girls want to look like models.” – Kimberly
• “I think you shouldn’t edit because it’s fake and when you see a famous person it looks totally different and they disappoint people.” -Cynthia
• “Dear  Teen Vogue Editor, Please stop using Photoshopped images in your magazines it is very harmful to girls and their bodies.” Sincerely, Natalina Acosta.
• “Dear Editor, I think that you should stop Photoshop. I think people will love them (models) even if you don’t edit it. They look fake when people see them in real life! Everybody can tell and people will notice. Just saying!” -Sincerely, Delilah.
• “Dear Editor, I think Photoshop is a bad example to little kids and they get the wrong idea of how girls should be.They want to be like the celebrities on TV and magazines.” -Deseree Martinez
• “Dear Designers, I think you should cut down on  Photoshopping, that way girls and women can stop trying to be like the women on TV that are not real. I think little girls start to get that in their head and when they get older they do the same and then don’t look as pretty as they already are.”  - Desiree Tarango
• “Dear 17 Magazine Editors, I think you should stop using Photoshop because it makes us all feel bad about our bodies.”
• “Dear Editors, Please stop using Photoshop it discriminates women.There are 8 year olds who want to use Botox just to be like the girls on magazines who are fake. Please Stop.”-   Maria G. C.
• “Dear Teen Vogue, Photoshop is stupid it makes girls feel insecure. It’s not about the looks its about what they feel inside.”-  Sincerely, Lauren
• “Dear Editor, Hi my name is Jessica and I’m 12 years old.I wish you could really stop using Photoshop in most of the photos. I think it’s really hurting girls my age. Please! I would really appreciate it.”   -Jessica Ceballos
• “Dear 17 Magazine, Please stop using Photoshopped images in your magazine. Those pictures have negative effects on girls like me.” -Deliah age 13
• “Dear Teen Vogue, Can you please stop using Photoshop because 5th graders worry about their weight and feel really bad. It’s only hurting girls.” -Katherine Vazquez, age 11
• “Dear 17 magazine, Please stop using Photoshopped pictures in your magazines, they make young girls feel bad about their bodies.”-  Miranda Galindo, age 11
• “Dear 17 Magazine, Please stop using Photoshop pictures in your magazine, they make young girls feel bad about their bodies.”  Desiree Ramirez, age 12
• “Dear 17 Magazine, Please stop the Photoshoping.”- EMM