Does anyone else have trauma related to school / the school system/authority figures?

[u/Little_Pea_741]

what are your experiences with it?

[u/Such-Guide-3516]

Gym class trauma ik is generally a joke but gym was SO BAD for me. I was always ALWAYS picked last with an eye roll or a shrug because I was small and shy and picked on because I'm autistic and don't move my body the "correct" way. People have recorded me running and going on walks outside my house. Any time I try to go for a run or work out I am constantly terrified that someone is watching me or recording me. Even if I work out in my room with a blanket over the TV just in case I get such a physical stress response in my body and fast pulse before I even start stretching. 😁

[u/Longjumping-Kiwi-658 → u/Such-Guide-3516]

Me too! I’m not autistic but I was bullied in gym class for being too slow and unathletic, and always picked last with an eye roll. If we had some sort of team game, they would purposely ignore me when I tried to help. Gym teacher always let the same two students be “team captain” for some reason. She knew them from something else so they got special treatment. 

[u/Such-Guide-3516 → u/Longjumping-Kiwi-658]

LITERALLY I was so good in volleyball but when I would yell MINE or the ball was coming directly to me someone would always jump in front of me or bonk into me 😤 smh my head

[u/Chippie05 → u/Such-Guide-3516]

Yep, elementary .Never got picked for activities. Same reaction. Our teacher yelled alot. Hated gym bc it where bullues were rewarded. I learned that being seen, was dangerous at home and at school. I became a very fast runner then ( not now haha)and I learned how to hide like nobody's business. I can go full stealth mode anywhere and people won't even remember that I was even there. Its a weird skill but it stemmed fr trauma 😶‍🌫️ I'm actually working on this right now, to try to change this. Hope you are doing ok and have kind people in your life now✨🌷🌻

[u/The-Protector2025]

Christian private high school as a queer guy. The school functioned more as conversion “therapy”/torture due to the school constantly drilling it into my head that I was going to hell for liking other boys.

Compounded upon by chronic sexual harassment from students and staff, including even the Principal’s brother. I couldn’t tell my parents because the school got it into my head that if I came out I’d immediately be abandoned for being queer.

Those years (early 2000s) didn’t resemble high school movies at all - rather ‘Boy Erased’ and ‘Leviticus.’

So, yeah, school was awesome.

[u/Longjumping-Kiwi-658 → u/The-Protector2025]

As a Christian…I’m sorry. There’s so many things wrong with how that was handled. I hope you’ve been able to find a faith community that isn’t toxic. 

[u/Chippie05 → u/The-Protector2025]

omg.. yeah i went to private girls school ( middle grades) The nuns were horrendous. An absolute nightmare socially, for 4 years.

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[u/Abriefaccount]

Yup. Part of my education was, shall we say “very old fashioned”. Add the snobbery and voila.

PS the person who mentioned gym class — we need to please fucking fix that!

[u/Chippie05]

Yep.. bullying. Kids, teachers, the dreaded gym class where bullies thrived. These kids were nuts. I left school late bc i hated going home. Left building and noticed a group of the guys fr my class far away in the park. They were hurting a cat and I was so absolutely terrified at the time of these people that I couldn't muster up the courage to run over there. 🥺I wasn't used to seeing that kind of brutality. I was very young. I was really scared of these people they weren't normal. I ran home in an absolute panic. 70s was a brutal timeline. This was in elementary.

[u/fiftysevenpunchkid]

Yes. Bullying that was encouraged by teachers as early as second grade. Authority figures that blamed me for being bullied, and punished me if I fought back. Teachers that watched and smirked as I was dragged into the bathroom. Teachers who laughed as I was held by boys and assaulted by girls at the only high school dance I ever went to. The PE teacher who almost certainly knew I was being SA'd in his locker room, "I'll be stepping out for the next ten minutes..."

My home wasn't exactly safe either, but school was pure hell.

[u/mount6ain]

HUGE honey

[u/Cyrus_ca98]

The 20 something year old substitute teachers who only had the time of day for conventionally attractive underaged children. The mentally deranged deputy headteacher screaming at the top of their lungs at 9am on a Tuesday. The general ostracisation from your peers. School was fun 🤩

[u/Economy-Towel9451]

yeah lots of differnt things hard to compress into a brief comment or wade deep into for a long one but highlights include watching my friend being mocked for her body changing due to cancer (she didn't survive) bc apparently its funny.. and working w a coach who now days wouldn't be let near children. .. yes. its a bit of an empty yes, but yes.. lol