Pink Shirt Day, also known as Anti-Bullying Day or International Day of Pink Shirt, is celebrated on February 12 each year. It’s an event where people come together, usually wearing pink shirts to work or school to demonstrate that they’re against bullying. You can even wear a pink shirt in school to make a statement or if your school is carrying distanced learning, wear one in the home. There are lots of other pink / pink shirts available, as well as ribbons, stickers, and much more. Here’s how you can support your cause for Anti-Bullying Day by purchasing a pink shirt:
o Become a vocal opponent of bullying. If you or someone you know has been the target of harassment, don’t be silent. Speak out, wearing your pink shirts as an act of support. Make sure there are plenty of people in your area that have also picked up their pink shirts in support of No Matter How You Live, because if enough of your community picks up the cue, it can spread quickly!
o Draw attention to anti-bullying efforts by wearing your pink shirt. Distribute your message on signs, banners, pamphlets, flyers, etc. Don’t just wear it in one place – spread the awareness so that others will pick up the design and get the same message that you’ve got. If you live in Massachusetts, for instance, wearing your pro-bullying day shirt to work or school could be seen as a form of public expression, since many large companies are often found in areas with high concentrations of youth cultures.
o Encourage others who’ve been bullied to stand up to them, by wearing your pink shirt as well. Showing your support for the individual who’s been bullied by standing up to them will show them that you, too, aren’t willing to tolerate bullying and that’s half the battle. It takes courage to stand up to someone who has power over you, but it’s worth it when you see results. More than likely, the individual who was bullying will stop doing the behavior once they see that others are not willing to take the bullying any longer.
o Attend a No Contact Friday event. A no contact Friday is where you go out of class on the first Friday of the semester without talking to your fellow classmates. This is the perfect time to make sure that no incidents of bullying will happen while you’re out of school. You can use this to get your own emotions under control, as well. Your safety should always be a priority, and no matter how small the event is, if you attend it and stay calm, nobody else will see your pink shirt day plans as the reason why they couldn’t be with their friends on the first Friday of the semester.
o Stand Up to your bully. Once you’ve done everything above, there’s one more thing that you need to do to stop the bullying. You need to tell the person that you’re going to do something about it, so they will actually do something to stop it the next day instead of making more of a scene out of it by doing nothing. For example, you could tell the bully that you’re planning on wearing your “girl’s only” shirt on the next day and then you could take the shirt off when class starts and put it in your locker. Doing this will make the bully think twice about what they’re doing, and it will build the resolve to get your own revenge later on.
Now here are a couple of things that you can do on your pink shirt day. First, you can let two students stand up with you and walk to the library. While you and the two students are walking to the library, tell the two students that you’ve been bullied and that you’re not going to take it anymore. Make sure that the two students know that they aren’t to do anything to make you happy. Then when class is over, tell the two students that you’re going to wear your “girl’s only” shirt the next day in front of everyone at school and then just do it.
The two students that stood up with you will have a greater chance of getting second chances with their bully later on in their lives because they took action and told their bullies that they were not going to be funny or nice to them anymore. There are lots of other ideas for your pink day. It really doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do something. Just don’t sit around and wait for it to be your turn next time when you go to wear your pink t-shirt.
