Book Review

Confronting Cyber-Bullying: What Schools Need to Know to Control Misconduct and Avoid Legal Consequences by Shaheen Shariff

Imagine visiting a Web site called Ugly Brandi Miller.com. You scroll down the site's home page and see pictures of a girl in various stages of undress in a locker room; there's even a comment field under each photo. Stunned and humiliated, you don't know what to do. You are Brandi Miller.

This scenario—an example of cyberbullying—is all too real for many young people today. As Shaheen Shariff writes in Confronting Cyber-Bullying, computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices have taken student-on-student harassment to a new level.

Shariff directs her book to "academics, educators, lawyers, and government policymakers who are concerned about addressing emerging cyberbullying and antiauthority student expressions." Supported by extensive research, the author examines the causes and effects of cyberbullying as well as possible responses.

Schools have policies in place to deal with students who get into a fight in the cafeteria, bring a weapon into the school, or are disrespectful to teachers and administrators. But their course is less clear when they try to intervene with students who express negative behavior through Web sites, e-mail messages, cell phones, and other digital media.

Schools that decide to take action against cyberbullying often face a lose-lose situation. Citing issues of free speech, students have protested the school-issued punishments of their peers, and parents have sued school districts for overstepping their jurisdiction. In addition, Internet service providers have often ignored reports of abuse because of court decisions that have ruled that they are not responsible for what their subscribers write. Consequently, many victims and families who have fought for Web sites to be taken down or for perpetrators to be suspended or expelled from school have been disappointed.

Confronting Cyber-Bullying explains the categories of harassment; the typical harassment perpetuated by females and males; and how both the victim and perpetrator often suffer from depression, anxiety, and poorer overall mental and physical health than those not involved in bullying. The book also discusses student-on-teacher cyberbullying, which does not get much media coverage but is occurring at alarming rates and is adversely affecting teachers' careers.

To battle the cyberbullying problem effectively, Shariff suggests, schools should use instances of cyberbullying as an opportunity to revisit the values and beliefs of the school and take measures that educate students about moral principles. She believes that educators need to become more proficient with technology, developing a more Web-focused teaching style that shows students positive ways to use the Internet. For example, teachers might create an online resource database for students, encourage students to read and create blogs that discuss civil liberties and world politics, and introduce students to online writing competitions.

Providing examples from various countries, Confronting Cyber-Bullying provides a view of the evolving and complex nature of cyberbullying. Although directed primarily to educators and policymakers, Shariff's writing style is friendly to those who simply want to better understand the problem and the steps schools can take to solve it.