When does bullying become harassment?

Bullying and harassment are concepts that sometimes occur simultaneously. Bullying can lead to harassment under special circumstances. However, people tend to think of them as interchangeable or synonyms for one another. This is not the case.  Bullying is defined as being the use of aggressive behaviors (making threats, spreading lies/isolating someone from others, using verbal or physical violence, etc.) to intentionally harm or cause fear and distress in another person. These actions/behaviors happen over and over again (rather than just once) and the bully often perceives their victim as being “less than” or more vulnerable.

Meanwhile, harassment refers to the use of aggressive behaviors against a person that is solely based on a “protected” class or identity. Both bullying and harassment involve a perceived (or actual) power imbalance and a perception, on the part of the bully, that a person is less than. However, while anyone can be bullied, not everyone will experience harassment. Furthermore, harassment can be defined based on the person's location or where the harassment took place (i.e. a school/university, the workplace, etc.).

The “protected classes” that have been defined by the federal government are race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, and nationality. However, individual schools, counties, states, and workplaces might add additional classes in order to protect different groups from harassment or discrimination. For example, the federal government does not include protections for gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. However, a college or university might take it upon themselves to include LGBTQIA+ people within their nondiscrimination policies. So, if a student is facing repeated aggressive behaviors that are solely based on their sexual orientation, then a college will be able to define this as harassment.

At the end of the day, both harassment and bullying are actions that are meant to perpetuate fear and violence against someone. Both of them have underlying themes around power and abuse. However, bullying can literally happen to anyone in any setting at any point in their life. While this is terrible and can leave a lasting impact on a person, it is not the same as harassment. Harassment uses the inequalities that have been established within society to cause further harm to already vulnerable populations.