Astoria Anti-Bullying Project

Safe, Confidential, and Private

The Astoria Armory holds anti-bullying meetings every Friday night at 6pm. The gatherings offer a place of safety for anyone who experiences harassment on any level, to speak up and be heard. The meetings are also intended to find solutions to bullying in the schools, workplaces, and online. If you are interested in finding out more, please use the contact form below, or call 503.791.6064.

  • Robyn Koustic
    Astoria Armory Director

  • Kim Metcalfe, Ph.D.
    Psychologist

Bullying is a serious matter and it should NEVER be ignored. Bullying leads to severe psychological damage, in which victims of bullying come to see themselves as worthless.


The Definition of A Bully
Bullying is a specific type of aggression in which (1) the behavior is intended to harm or disturb, (2) the behavior occurs repeatedly over time, and (3) there is an imbalance of power, with a more powerful person or group attacking a less powerful person or group. There may be psychological or physical differences in power between the bully and the victim.


Bullies…

  • Crave an audience.
  • Use hurting others to feel better about themselves.
  • Believe that their bullying behavior gives them the attention they crave.
  • Believe that their bullying behavior propels them up the social ladder.

There are 6 Types of Bullying


  • Physical Bullying

    • One person or group uses physical actions to harm another person or group.
    • Physical actions: biting, hitting, kicking, slapping, punching, shoving, pulling an item of clothing off, hair pulling, pulling a backpack, or pulling a purse, or pulling on any personal items within the victim’s possession.
  • Relational Aggression (Relational Bullying)

    • Relational aggression or Relational Bullying is when one person or group engages in intentional social manipulation in which one person or group tries to intentionally ruin or cause harm to existing friendships and/or relationships.
    • Relational bullies often spread rumors, manipulate situations, report information out of context, criticize, ostracize, tease, ignore, insult, and break confidences to intentionally harm their victims.
  • Verbal Bullying

    • One person or group uses relentless verbal name-calling, and insults designed to degrade, demean, insult, and hurt another person or group.
    • Verbal bullying has serious consequences because it is psychological abuse that leaves a person feeling worthless.
    • Verbal bullying is often very difficult to identify because attacks almost always occur when adults aren’t around, and the harm caused isn’t something others can see.
    • Verbal bullying is difficult to solve because often it is often one person’s word against another person’s word. And many adults do not take verbal bullying seriously because adults feel that things kids say don’t cause serious harm. But research has shown that verbal bullying and name-calling has serious consequences.
  • Sexual Bullying

    • Sexual bullyingconsists of repeated, harmful and humiliating actions that target a person sexually.
    • Sexual bullying can include vulgar gestures, crude remarks (e.g., a crude remark about a person’s appearance, sexual development, or sexual activity), nonconsensual and uninvited touching (e.g., slapping of the buttock), sexual propositioning, and pornographic materials.
    • Both males and females can engage in sexual bullying, for example, one female may call another female a slut, a whore, a tramp.
    • Sexual bullying can result from sexting.  For example, a private nude photo in the wrong hands can lead to sexual propositioning, name calling, and even sexual physical assaults.
  • Cyberbullying

    • Cyberbullying is when one person or a group uses technology (e.g., cell-phone, computer) to harass, threaten, embarrass or target another person.
    • Examples of cyberbullying include posting hurtful words, images, making online threats, and sending hurtful emails or texts.
    • Cyberbullies often say things that they do not have the courage to say face-to-face.
    • Cyberbullying is emotionally damaging because the victim can never get away from it, not even in their own home.
  • Prejudicial Bullying

    • Prejudicial bullying is based on prejudices that one person or group has toward people of different cultural values, ethnicities, races, religions, sexual orientation, size, etc.
    • Prejudicial bullying can incorporate physical, verbal, relational, cyber, and/or sexual bullying.
    • Prejudicial bullying is characterized by bullying behavior that targets victims who are different from the bully.
    • Prejudicial bullying should be reported to authorities (in the school, work place, and police if occurring in public) immediately because this type of bullying often opens the door for hate crimes.

Please Join Us!


If you are interested in joining us, or would like more information about the Armory Anti-Bullying Program, please fill out this form and click SEND. We look forward to hearing from you!