Girl, 13, commits suicide after dad's public-shaming video posted online
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Jun 6, 2015
Enlarge Lift Up via YouTube the man heard filming the girl's apparent punishment panned to the ground to show all of her 'beautiful hair, ' seen here.
There is no way in the world I would ever embarrass my son like that.
A 13-year-old girl committed suicide by jumping off an overpass in Washington, and many are mad at her father for the video he had posted of her several days before, according to jezebel.com and Tacoma's News Tribune.
Days before, a 15-second video emerged online of Isabel standing in a room with some of her hair on the floor.
Izabel, who attended Giaudrone Middle School in Tacoma, exited the passenger seat of her grandmother’s vehicle, climbed over the bridge railing, and jumped "without hesitation", landing on an auto below.
A few thoughts come to mind: First, shame on Izabel’s parents.
Some argued that the cutting of Izabel's hair was not merely a punishment, but a violation of her sense of self. I’d argue her father knew that a young girl, who probably put a lot of emphasis on her hair’s appearance (because ladies, we all focus on our hair way more than we probably should regardless of age), would get bullied over her hack job.
Inquisitor: Izabel Laxamana, 13, Commits Suicide After Social Media Shaming By Father [Updated].
The trend of punishing children with social-media shaming is growing. It’s easy to upload a picture or post a status, and have one friend comment. "Good parenting starts before he even gets to the point of being out of control". Why do you have to humiliate your child to teach them a lesson?
But the bigger picture of parenting and discipline?
Police believe an unidentified third-party uploaded the video.
We struggle with that line and the physical and emotional measures we apply to children, and parents who shame their children on the Internet are crossing it. The permanence of digital embarrassment is perhaps clearer to kids than it is to the generation raising them, who may not understand the implications of humiliating someone in the online communities where they conduct so much of their lives. And he has got to be feeling the worst pain right now.
Let’s say Izabel had not killed herself and pulled through the situation. "So she would remember and not do it again". A parent of one of Izabel's "close friend" said that the father had also "cut her undergarments" and "destroyed her clothing".
He said district counselors and police and fire department chaplains were meeting with students in small groups.
