Unpacking Anti-Bullying Discourse: Beyond Binaries of Safety and Danger: A review of Queer Kids and Social Violence: The Limits of Bullying

Hayoung Lee

doi:10.18357/jcs511202622661

Unpacking Anti-Bullying Discourse: Beyond Binaries of Safety and Danger

A review of Queer Kids and Social Violence: The Limits of Bullying

Authors

Hayoung Lee https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6063-2630

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18357/jcs511202622661

Keywords:

bullying, queer, safety, gender, sexuality

Abstract

This book review discusses Queer Kids and Social Violence: The Limits of Bullying, edited by Elizabethe Payne and Melissa J. Smith, which unpacks the anti-bullying framework that depoliticizes and individualizes LGBTQ+ youth in schools. Thirteen chapters with different methodologies and critical perspectives on social violence against queer youth focus on better understanding the experiences of queer and trans youth and disrupt the simplistic and individualized intervention to create “safe space” in schools. The book emphasizes how bullying is a structural mechanism through which gender privilege is (re)produced in different forms, by different agents, and in different directions within schools.

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References

Arendt, H. (1981). The life of the mind: The groundbreaking investigation on how we think. Harcourt.

Butler, J. (2020). The force of nonviolence: An ethico-political bind. Verso.

Lesko, N. (2010). Feeling abstinent? Feeling comprehensive? Touching the affects of sexuality curricula. Sex Education, 10(3), 281–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2010.491633 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2010.491633

Lesko, N., McCall, S. D., Dernikos, B. P., & Niccolini, A. (2024). Atmospheres of violence and becoming bad researchers. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 37(3), 618–630. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2299021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2299021

Meiners, E. R. (2016). For the children?: Protecting innocence in a carceral state. University of Minnesota Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5749/minnesota/9780816692750.001.0001

Payne, E., & Smith, M. J. (2025). Queer kids and social violence: The limits of bullying. University of Minnesota Press.

Stanley, E. (2021). Atmospheres of violence. Duke University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478021520

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Published

2026-03-05

How to Cite

Lee, H. (2026). Unpacking Anti-Bullying Discourse: Beyond Binaries of Safety and Danger: A review of Queer Kids and Social Violence: The Limits of Bullying. Journal of Childhood Studies, 51(1), 121–125. https://doi.org/10.18357/jcs511202622661

Issue

Vol. 51 No. 1 (2026): Journal of Childhood Studies

Section

Reviews of Books & Resources

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