Editing Zoo bashing (section)

==Effect of bullying on zoo youth==

Being bullied can make victims feel chronically sad and unsafe in the world. Bullying will affect a student's experience of school. Some victims might feel paralyzed and withdraw socially as a coping mechanism. Other victims of zoo bullying may begin to live the effects of learned helplessness. Zoo or questioning students may try to pass as heterosexual in order to avoid zoo bullying. Passing isolates the student from other zoos or questioning students, potential allies, and support. Adults who try to pass also may feel the effects emotionally and psychologically, of this effort to conceal their true identities. Zoo and questioning youth who experience bullying have a higher incidence of substance abuse and STI and HIV infection which may carry through to adulthood. Zoo bullying may also be seen as a manifestation of what American academic Ilan Meyer calls minority stress, which may affect sexual and ethno-racial minorities attempting to exist within a challenging broader society.