When people ask me about Otherwise known as Pig, I tell them it’s a story about bullying. I tell them it starts with “Stormin punched me in the mouth today” and goes downhill from there. I then reassure them it does have hope and resolution and a sort-of happy ending but that it is a book about violent bullying, and it doesn’t pull any punches (pun intended).
 And then, I get one of two responses ...

And then, I get one of two responses. People either start to tell me about bullying they have experienced (and those stories are often worse than what I’ve put in Pig) or they tell me they can’t really believe it happens. One of my favourite responses was a reader who told me “I couldn’t read it and then I imagined the story was set in America. After that I could finish it." It sheds an interesting light on what she thought of America—and how we distance ourselves from horror in order to cope with it.
Unfortunately—though I did take some examples from USA schools— this type of bullying is not restricted to America. For the people who ‘don’t believe this happens’ here are some facts on bullying.

• In the last year in Australia there have been at least two school stabbings reported in the media. (News.com July 24 2018 and 9news June 28, 2019). A student in WA was held in a headlock on the ground and punched seventeen times and another girl was attacked while students filmed and laughed. (9 News April 17 2018)
• A student in Southern California was burnt with a cigarette lighter, threatened to be set on fire and was subject to students just ‘walking up and punching them in the face’ (Cleary, Sullivan, & Sullivan, 2005, p. 69).
• A gang of girls and boys beat up a group of girls with ‘kicks and punches hard enough to draw blood and break bones’ as part of a community football game (Roberts Jr, 2006, p. 9).
• Bystanders take turns to bully and close friends turn on the victim (Marr & Field, 2001, p. 105). 

These are just a few examples. Resources such as the recent SBS program on bullying (Insight: Season 2019, episode 6: Stopping School Bullying) books such as Bullycide by Marr & Field (2001) and any quick Google search can uncover more. It is estimated that at least one in five students are regularly bullied at school with up to one in three adolescent suicides attributed to bullying (Cleary, Sullivan & Sullivan, 2005, p1-2). Every piece of bullying in Otherwise known as Pig has a real-world counterpart.
 
Why don’t people report it?
A statistical study was done on the likelihood of reporting bullying (Cleary, Sullivan, & Sullivan, 2005, p 8). The results showed:

• Adolescents are less likely to report bullying than any other age group.
• Males are less likely to report than females.
• Australians, with our strong anti-authoritarian culture, are the least likely nationality in the western world to report bullying.

As an adolescent Australian male Morgan (otherwise known as Pig) is statistically the least likely person in the world to talk about his problems.
 
And further facts about high school bullying

• Australian children do believe that any male who does not play sport is a ‘loser’. In a bullying workshop performed at upper primary school we asked the question ‘What do you call a boy who doesn’t play sport at all?’ To the visible shock of the teachers present we ALWAYS got an answer like ‘loser’ or ‘hopeless’.
• Female violent bullying has increased by up to 50% since 1980. (Marr & Field. 2001, p212)  
• Victims do not normally come from dysfunctional families or have other issues. (Marr & Field, 2001, p 141). However, victims may have up to a 33% higher suicide risk (Cleary, Sullivan, % Sullivan, 2005, pp 1-2).
• Except in Victoria one student bullying another student at school is not a crime (Nicholson, 2006, p 17). This is possibly changing though only the most severe attacks that leave children in hospital seem to be going to the police.
• Parent responses (usually male) on websites discussing bullying included comments like: ‘It’ll help them toughen up’ and ‘It’s part of growing up’. They displayed a belief that physical bullying of boys was part of the experience of growing up as a male in Australia. (Home-school discussion boards 2019)

 
Otherwise known as Pig is a work of fiction, but it represents a real-life problem.