Mom: My Daughter was Bullied into Anorexia

Pittsburgh Lawsuit Claims Girl Developed Eating Disorder Because Male Students Teased Her about Weight

(AP)  A woman has filed what experts believe is a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Public Schools, claiming her daughter developed anorexia because male students bullied the girl about her weight, forcing her to leave the district.

But those experts - including the head of the National Eating Disorders Association - say linking bullying to anorexia is oversimplification, at best.

"With eating disorders, we say you're born with a gun and life pulls the trigger," said Lynn Grefe, chief executive officer of Seattle-based NEDA, who has never heard of a school being sued over such a scenario.

Generally, people who develop anorexia already have issues with anxiety, obsessive-compulsive or perfectionist behavior. Bullying could trigger anorexia in those people but not others who are taunted about their weight, Grefe said.

"The person's often a real high achiever, and if you put those people in a situation and then their world comes crashing down, they get triggered," Grefe said.

That's essentially what's described in the 10-page federal lawsuit Pittsburgh attorney Edward Olds filed Friday on behalf of an unnamed woman whose middle-school sixth-grader began to be bullied 2006-07 by three boys who called her "fat."

The girl was in a program for gifted students, made straight A's and was active in community and volunteer programs, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit contends a guidance counselor did nothing to stop the bullying. The next year, in seventh grade, two other boys joined in the daily harassment.

"Some other students tried to shame the boys about the conduct. However, no faculty member or other school official intervened," the lawsuit said.

By February 2008, the girl entered an inpatient treatment program for anorexia nervosa because "her weight was dangerously low."

The girl's mother contends school officials harassed her when she tried to home-school the girl, who now attends private school.

The woman's attorney didn't return calls for comment and a school attorney says only that he'll vigorously defend the district.

Although experts say they've never heard of a lawsuit alleging that anorexia resulted from school bullying, suits over school-based bullying are not new.

The lawsuit contends the school's alleged failure to protect the girl violates Title IX, an antidiscrimination law affecting any school that receives federal funding.

Title IX has most often been cited in lawsuits about disparities in the number of athletic opportunities and scholarships afforded to male and female athletes.

But the U.S. Supreme Court says peer-on-peer gender harassment also violates Title IX if the school should have stopped the abuse and a student lost an educational opportunity as a result, said Tom Hutton, senior staff attorney for the National School Boards Association.

Hutton has never seen a suit claiming school bullying caused anorexia, though Title IX bullying suits are becoming more common. "But I wouldn't say I've seen a tidal wave of them," he said.

Dr. Alberto Goldwaser, a forensic psychiatrist and expert witness on mental illnesses from New York University, cautioned against linking bullying directly to anorexia.

Goldwaser says adolescent girls with high-achieving, perfectionist tendencies are prime candidates for the disorder.

"But we cannot say that anorexia is caused by bullying or brain issues or mother-daughter relationships or any one thing," Goldwaser said.

Yet another legal expert said that focusing on the girl's anorexia misses the point of bullying lawsuits.

"Very often it's nervous orders of different kinds that are alleged in these lawsuits," said Bruce Ledewitz, a Duquesne University law professor. That this girl developed anorexia "is completely incidental."

The issue, instead, is whether the bullying "deprives the victim of an educational opportunity. That's the language that's been used in these suits all along."

[barbaram99]

She got upset over the boys calling her fat..I am legally blind and was called names..The names hurt. I had to bear them as they came from adults when I was a minor. The sighted child surely learnt one thing..Cry and Mum will take her out of school. The lesson the girl learnt run and sue. Life is people will call names. So..I pushed right back. I was 10 and a boy pushed me in line at recess, I told him not do it. Cos I talked I was told at next recess to stay in classroom with my head on my desk..I went to the teacher and told her she was wrong. It should have been the boy sent to classroom not me. I was pissed. The girl is not taught to handle it. I let the sighted make fools of themselves. The girl will have to face for than someone calling her fat. The girl has issues.
I was 15 and a boy of colour rode the bus. Everyone but me picked on him. It was appalling to hear him cry as he got off the. The driver hit him as he hated the boy.He sat with me and the boys srated calling me names. I am white. I told to to shut up. They never did start to start it with me.
The problem is mothers is they fail to teach values.The models don't help. The mother is the blame and the school to some point. Children do this. Next

[Lynne333]

"Well if she was teased for being overweight... wait till the kids get done w/ her after this coocoo stunt by her mother! How humiliating."

You're probably the type of mother who raises bullies too, since apparently you see nothing wrong with one girl being ganged up on and consistently bombarded with comments about her weight in a place where she is supposed to be comfortable enough to learn. She is just supposed to be able to take it right? No repercussion for the boys though. No, you don't agree with that. What about discipline? Hey hockeymom, take your half-azzed comments, and you know where you can shove them.

[hockeymom441]

Well if she was teased for being overweight... wait till the kids get done w/ her after this coocoo stunt by her mother! How humiliating.

[Lynne333]

"Well if she was teased for being overweight... wait till the kids get done w/ her after this coocoo stunt by her mother! How humiliating."

You're the type of parent who probably raises bullies too. Apparently you see nothing wrong with a child being ganged up on. She should just be able to take it, right? Wow. Now I can see where the problem with America lies. Yes, the mother is being extreme by suing, and not going after the people she should be going after; the people who are supposed to be monitoring these kids' behavior, like their parents for one, and yes, the school, since they should be making sure that children aren't being abused by others, whether physically, or verbally. So take your half-assed reasoning, and you know where you can shove it. Hockeymom.

[hockeymom441]

Of course this mother must sue someone.... after all, it is America... and parents these days SUCK!

If mom had put this much effort into building her daughter's self esteem (rather than trying to make money off of her!), maybe she'd be ok.

Children taunt each other - it's a fact of life. You need to teach your children how to cope w/ it... or it's going to be a longer, miserable life.

[sy2502]

I am sick and tired of parents who point the finger to others about their kids problems. How about a good old look to themselves and their parenting, for a change?

[Lynne333]

"I am sick and tired of parents who point the finger to others about their kids problems. How about a good old look to themselves and their parenting, for a change? "

You're absolutely right. I would have been on the phone with those boys' parents, and to the principal's office. Speaking of parenting, I would have asked those boys' parents if they ever even thought of instilling morals in them.

[sy2502]

Or how about teaching your daughter good confidence and healthy body image?

[Lynne333]

"Or how about teaching your daughter good confidence and healthy body image?"

That's a given, but with excess bullying, if a neurological predisposition towards a disorder wer already there, it can very well be triggered. I do see what you're saying, but how about we stop with the victim blaming, and place the blame where it belongs, with the boys and their parents, plain and simple; unless you condone bullying.

[fabrat1]

If you mean what you say then you must also think the parents of the bully should do the same thing right???????? Attack the bully NOT the victim.

[Henri_Rochard]

Wait, wasn't there another story in the news this week linking calorie deprivation with a longer life span ??

[pw08-2009]

Women,

It's time to take responsibility at least ONCE in a while for your own actions. I NEVER see this happening...not in the workplace, or anywhere else. You have turned into victims and men are just done with it.

[xlib]

My God, this is getting crazier and crazier.

[eferrell2]

This is silly.