I can only speak from my experience. In junior high, we had a very definite pecking order. Everyone knew who the bullied kids were, everyone knew who the wors

I can only speak from my experience. In junior high, we had a very definite pecking order. Everyone knew who the bullied kids were, everyone knew who the worst off were. This includes the administration. The worst off was this kid who would get "swirlies" in toilets that had yet to be flushed. He ended up bringing a gun to school, shooting two of his bullies and then himself. Among other things, I was knocked into a gym mat from behind, rolled up like a pig in a blanket, and jumped on. My body made crunchy noises. The nurse taped up my ribs. Nobody saw anything, kids letting off steam, whatever. Life goes on. In high school, the very obviously out of the closet kid (this was before it was common) happened to take a lot of mysterious flights down the stairs when the sportos were around. The bullying largely stopped for me by then because I had given up on the proper procedures and, between the martial arts and other things, I made it clear that I was going to hurt anyone who hurt me, and I was going to keep on hurting them as long as possible. Other targets were present. Punishment really only happened if the perpetrators were dumb enough to do it in front of enough people, and if they were the "J.D." types, whereas the more valuable members of sporting teams, well ... if there were consequences, they didn't seem to be impactful of their behavior or participation. And so on and so forth. And of course girls have their own methods that are unique.