I've said it in Twitter, and I'm going to say it here too.
I thought I wasn't upset at Adam's comments about bullying. I see where he's coming from. I understand what he means. I KNOW he's talking about name-calling and not what was done to me.
... But it turns out that yes, I'm upset. And I'm more upset the more I think about it.
You see, I was bullied. And I don't mean that some kids called me names. I mean that there were days when I went back home with bruises and trying not to fall apart after having had people trying to take away my dignity in front of my silent classmates.
Why was I bullied? No reason. They didn't like me. They liked the fact that I fought back even less.
I NEVER blamed myself. I NEVER thought it was my fault. I ALWAYS, ALWAYS,
ALWAYS fought back. Believe me, I had a very thick skin. I was very strong. You have no idea how strong I was, and how much strength I had to muster to go to school every day trying to hide how scared I was and holding my head high. I was scared that they were going to end up killing me, that's how insane they were.
We need to take the focus away from the bullies and focus on the bullied because what they need is to develope a thick skin? Sorry, Adam, but that's bullshit. So the problem lies within the bullied? The problem is that the bullied can't take it? OMG, I can't even start saying how wrong that is.
While I was at school, I was threatened with a knife in front of a teacher who looked the other way, I was followed home and harassed in front of my mother, I had to defend my mother from being harassed when she tried to reason with them, I had to call the police because they were beating my windows and my door with branches trying to get me to come out of the house, I had to restrain my father when they called my mother a whore and tried to hit her, I had to bear the laughs of my classmates when one of them started screaming about "how my mother screamed when my father fucked her".
Once I had to throw a punch because I was being strangled. I had some nasty bruises in my neck for days... The police gave me their direct phone number because they threatened to kill me.
I never cried in front of them. I "walked that walk like I didn't give a fuck". But inside I felt absolutely abandoned by my teachers and by my fellow classmates. I felt completely alone, even if I had the total support of my family. Even my friends never dared to defend me, because everyone was terrified of the bullies.
That's bullying, Adam. That's bullying. It's not some silly name-calling. I don't give a fuck about what people think of me, at all. But what those bullies did to me? That's NOT okay, it can NEVER be okay, and I should NEVER feel that it's my problem for not knowing how to take it. And Adam's tweet made me feel like that. I know it wasn't his intention, but that's how it made me feel.
The problem lies within the bully. ALWAYS. And the focus should NEVER be taken away from them. NEVER, Adam.
I'm going to bed. I'm so upset right now that I'm in tears. That's what bullying does to you; it doesn't matter how many years ago it was, you never get over it.
You must be one hell of a woman 
