Love is Louder

Love is Louder is such a powerful movement. It is a movement of all types of people who have come together to raise the volume around the message that love and support are louder than any internal or external voice that brings us down.

Individuals, communities, schools and organizations have embraced Love is Louder as a way to address with issues like bullying, negative self-image, discrimination, loneliness and depression.  Even as we work to stop negative words and actions that hurt us, we can strengthen our abilities to cope with hard times, focus on the positive, support the people around us and reach out for help if we need it.
I have really embraced this movement. Bullying is something that exists well past grade school. I see bullying going on around me constantly and it breaks my heart. The bullying is being done a large percentage of the time by girls, and girls who are well into their twenties. 

Why Do Girls Bully?

• They've learned the habit of bullying at home. Bullies often (but not always) come from homes where they are bullied by parents, siblings, or even significant others. Bullying is a way for them to regain some of the control they have lost at home.
• They're insecure. In many cases, bullying is a cover-up for insecurity. A bully may be sensitive about her weight or the clothes she wears, and bullying other girls allows her to attack them before they attack her.
• They need to feel powerful. Girls who bully need to control and exert power over others. To make themselves seem more powerful, girl bullies often target girls who are passive, or easily pushed around. They often gang up on another girl to demonstrate their control.
• They want to get attention. Many girls bully to gain attention from their peers. They think that by being mean to others they will become more popular with people. Unfortunately, this is often true, which makes bullying even more tempting to many girls.
• They have personal issues. Quite often, a girl may bully because she is having troubles at home or in some other aspect of their life, which causes her to act out against other girls. Underneath her tough exterior, she is likely to be angry or depressed about other issues in her life.

Gossiping and insulting someone is a form of bullying. Also, getting together with a group of friends and specifically leaving someone out on purpose is bullying. Cyber bullying is also another huge issue; using the internet and social media like facebook to put someone down. I see statuses all the time on facebook which are clearly directed at someone specific putting them down and then people actually “like” that status. It’s hard to watch other people pretty much give someone a hypothetical high five for saying something mean. Not impressed. 

All the time spent talking about another girl and putting her down, is time where you can spend working on yourself and trying to figure out why you are unhappy and what you can do to feel good about yourself. No one should ever get to the point where you need to bring down others just because they are happy and confident. Happy girls are the prettiest girls and jealousy is just plain old ugly.  

With your help, we are getting even louder. 

 

Love & Pink,

Lisa