I Was Bullied In The 90s & "Just Ignore Them" Doesn't Work

Why was this the best we could do for our girls?

Welcome to Cheaper Than Therapy, a healing newsletter for 80s babies by Shani Silver. This newsletter does not publish free content, but if you’d like to read it you can subscribe here. Thank you for enjoying the work of independent writers.

I was bullied in the mid-90s. Before the internet, before the current level of consciousness, and well before people talked about bullying like it even caused harm. When I was a kid, bullying was chuckled away like a childhood rite of passage. Lately I’ve been wondering if I can process the rage and shame associated with these charming experiences, and maybe help a few other bullied girls feel seen, if I write about how poorly equipped we were to handle it. I know what it’s like to be severely bullied as a child and come out okay—or something like it—on the other side. The other side being adulthood where you finally have enough agency, talent, and platform at your disposal to tell three individuals who made your middle school years a living hell that they can eat shit.