January 2009 release scheduled for DVD that’s receiving widespread attention

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Catherine Griwkowsky, Sherwood Park News

Saffron, the Strathcona Sexual Assault Centre, released a preview for its DVD on cyberbullying on Friday.

Dorthe Flauer, executive director of Saffron, said the full hour-long DVD will be released in January 2009 and will include an optional supplementary package to enhance learning. The release will include a panel discussion.

“It’s changed from a traditional bully, who was the bigger kid in the school yard,” Flauer said. She said the difference is being able to see the effects of bullying versus not knowing how the other person is feeling.

“That desensitizes kids to become a little more aggressive online,” she said.

Flauer continued, saying more girls are bullying online and there is no distinction between people the bully knows or does not know.

The DVD was filmed in Sherwood Park and Fort Saskatchewan with local actors. Requests have already come from Washington, D.C., and from all over Alberta.

The movie came out of a play performed in local schools since the summer of 2007.

Demand for the show was so high that the idea for a movie came out so it could be accessed across Alberta.

Flauer said the play ended on Nov. 14 and just a few days later, news came out of Missouri that teenager Megan Myer had committed suicide. The teen had befriended who she thought was a boy named Josh online.

One day “Josh” said he heard terrible things about her and that the world would be a better place without her. “Josh” turned out to be a character created by her best friend’s mother to find out what was happening between the girls.

“That really shocked me and my heart was broken when I heard that,” Flauer said.

Cyberspace, including instant messaging, text messaging, social

networking sites and other Internet usage, is constantly in young peoples’ faces, Flauer said.

She said, in addition to the scenes from the play, a scene was added to touch on gaming.

Flauer said she hopes children will realize that while they may be sending a message in the privacy of their own home, the Internet is not private.

She said an increasing number of people are putting compromising photos online, forgetting the permanence of the images.

“Kids do silly things, they do them in the privacy of their home and they don’t think it’s going to go anywhere, but 20 years later it might be somewhere.”

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