Bullying By Ellie Philipps

"As part of the blog tour for Dads, Geeks and Blue Haired Freaks, I am pleased to have Ellie Philipps on the blog talking about bullying and sharing the hairstyle of the day!"

HAIRSTYLE OF THE DAY:

This should be the face-lift pony that Sadie wears when she has a fight with Shonna - it's grabbable and it's mean - as modelled here by Lady Sovereign

Dads Geeks contains quite a bit about bullying. Shonna Matthews, Sadie's ex-best friend is the bully. After all, she ostracises Sadie, she tries to steal her fella and they even have a physical fight at one point. Lots of girls go through this at high school; their best friends turning on them for no particular reason, and I think in Dads Geeks I've tried to show that there is a reason - in this case a very deep, twisted reason why Shonna behaves as she does - but it's understandable and even Sadie is sympathetic to it. The point is that bullies feel vulnerable and that's why they bully. In the book Shonna feels just as vulnerable about her 'dad' as Sadie does but she expresses it in a very different way. She becomes angry and disappointed and she takes it out on the only other person who knows what it's like and who she perceives is more vulnerable - Sadie. Shonna's not likeable - you're not supposed to like her but you are supposed to understand where it's all coming from. There's no point in creating a 1 dimensional bully with no motivation - it's just not going to be believable. Everybody has the capacity to bully and be bullied - extricating yourself from either of these roles is very very hard and girls do often fall into them at high school - it's something about the struggle to survive in a new environment. I remember being 'shed' by girls from my primary when I hit high school and I remember I 'shed' girls too. Both processes were painful, but sometimes there is a bid to begin again and meet new people and there's a jostling for position and where boys might physically fight it out, girls are psychologically unkind as well as physical. I do remember that the toughest people in my comprehensive school - the ones to be feared - were definitely the girls. I'm not sure that's changed.

"Thank you Ellie! "To find out more about Ellie Philipps: "Twitter: @ElliePhilipps50"Tumblr: "http://www.elliephillips.co.uk/