Bisexual woman left with PTSD after childhood bullies outed her and set her hair on fire
Charlie Massey says she suffered years of bullying
A bisexual woman has spoken out about the horrific impact that biphobic bullying has had on her mental health, after school bullies tried to set her hair on fire.
Charlie Massey, now 23, opened up to BirminghamLive about her experiences with relentless anti-LGBT bullying.
She said: “I told someone I thought was my friend that I thought I was bisexual and they spread it around the school in one morning.
“I remember every single thing they said that was homophobic. I remember reporting and reporting all the abuse and all the physical assaults to the school time and time again for them to do nothing.
“My parents reported it to the police and absolutely nothing was ever done.”
Bullies ‘set bisexual woman’s hair on fire’.
She told the outlet: “Two girls literally used to follow me home, shouting abuse, slurs, throwing water and stones at me, kicking me and tripping me over on several occasions.
“I was beaten up daily, I had so much psychological abuse from countless students that often turned physical.
“Once again I was reporting so many things… nothing was ever done.
“The last straw for me was when a group of boys sprayed my hair with body spray and tried to set it on fire.”
Charlie Massey was outed as bisexual by bullies
“I started to refuse to go to school because I just couldn’t bear it.”
Bullying has had a lasting impact.
Within a few years of the bullying starting, she had begun self harming, attempted suicide three times, and begun refusing to go to school.
The bullying left a lasting imprint on Massey, who explained: “My mental health is astonishingly bad. I have PTSD which gives me panic attacks multiple times a day, I can’t go to the town the school is in because it drives me into hysteria.
“I can’t work because of it all. I stay home and help my mum raise my niece. I very rarely leave the house but when I do I have my mum and sister with me.
“I’m so lucky to have family that are so understanding and support me.”
