By Jon Farmer
What would you do if pictures of your naked body were maliciously spread over the internet? The hypothetical question seems extreme but in an age of ubiquitous camera phones and wifi networks this kind of cyber-bullying is shockingly common. The Owen Sound Academy of Performing Arts has been asking the question in theatres across Grey and Bruce counties with the original production 'Just Delete'.
Just Delete follows the fictional Jessica as she tries to find her place in the shifting social fabric of high school. When a popular bully chooses Jessica as her target the abuse escalates until a naked photo of Jessica is posted online and leaves her in front of three doors asking the question: what do you do? Each door represents a type of coping strategy: positive – yoga, sports, baking; negative – drug use, self-harm, anger; and suicide – a long term solution to a temporary problem.
Funded by a Trillium grant and produced in partnership with community groups including Wes for Youth and the Canadian Mental Health Association, Just Delete asks audiences difficult questions to raise awareness of the resources available for victimized youth. The performances this week at OSCVI in Owen Sound completed a run that also included shows at the Meaford Hall and Victoria Jubilee Auditorium in Walkerton. Representatives from Wes for Youth conducted a talk back following each performance and distributed resources. Young hands rose and fell as the facilitators asked the audience of middle and high school students whether they were aware of different resources. When asked who knew someone who had experienced bullying, almost all of the hands rose. Bullying itself is nothing new but according to writer/director Kathleen Jerome "with cell phones bullying follows you home."
The script was informed by a focus group held at John Diefenbaker Secondary School. "They wanted it to be realistic, they didn't want an easy ending," Jerome said. "We were playing around with the idea of [being] less preventative: what do you do after something happens?"
When preventative programs are ineffective, the availability of resources can literally be the difference between life and death. The 2013 suicide of cyber-bullying victim Rehtaeh Parsons in Nova Scotia brought the issue to national attention. Unfortunately tragedies like Rehtaeh's death are often the most powerful catalysts for change. When Jamie and Yolanda Cameron lost their son Wes to suicide at the age of 16 they founded the Walkerton based Wes for Youth to be an online hub for youth counseling and mental health resources in Grey, Bruce and surrounding area. Wes for Youth assumes that since social media is an important part of young people's lives they will be more comfortable accessing support through social media than traditional resources. But tragedy is not the only way to create conversations and break down the stigma that isolates victims. Theatre works as well.
Almost everyone in the auditorium knew a victim of bullying and Jerome believes that the most relatable character in the play is the bystander, caught between her friendship with Jessica and her own desire to be popular with the bullies. "People still aren't comfortable with stepping in," Jerome said. One of the first acts of bullying depicted in the play was based on a story the actors told Jerome. A student in one of their schools was photographed with her hand up, a bully added the caption "put up your hand if you're a slut" and distributed it through their social networks.
Bullying has always been a problem but successful intervention is more difficult when the modes of abuse are invisible. Since social media allows us to send cruel messages privately, victims suffer privately as well. Some of the most powerful scenes in Just Delete take place in Jessica's bedroom where her phone beeps and buzzes incessantly with both mundane messages and horrendous abuse. Although she reaches out, the flood of messages is overwhelming. She can't escape it. Simply turning off her phone would cut her off from any support.
Fortunately for people like Jessica the number of resources for addressing and coping with online abuse is growing. The RCMP have expanded their ability to help remove malicious material from the internet and to identify the individuals responsible for its production. Wes for Youth has both a website and smartphone app. Kids Help Phone offers resources online. Preventing abuse is important but Just Delete reminds audiences that we might find ourselves on the wrong end of situations that we can't control. Faced with the question of what to do then, the ready availability of resources can help young people choose a positive door.
