NZer of Year calls out online bullies
I wanted it dealt with so they wouldn’t put anyone else through what they put me through.
Dr Siouxsie Wiles
Dr Siouxsie Wiles is no stranger to bullying and being named New Zealander of the Year this week has sparked another barrage of social media abuse.
The microbiologist and infectious disease expert became a household name after the Covid-19 pandemic broke out last year and on Wednesday she was recognised for her contributions, being presented with a kaitaka huaki cloak by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
The Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year judges said Wiles had responded to one the greatest challenges of the times with “empathy, innovation and courage” in clearly communicating the pandemic’s science to the public.
Patron of the awards Miriama Kamo said: “While New Zealand collectively locked down, she stepped up — helping millions globally see past the fear and complexities of the pandemic. Her work provided support, strength and clarity across New Zealand and beyond, representing our country on a world stage and helping to keep us safe.”
But Wiles has also faced plenty of public criticism, insults and threats over her expertise, appearance and gender over the past year. A congratulatory tweet this week, admiring the way she’s handled the online abuse directed at her, made her reflect on one of her earliest bullying experiences.
“I moved back to the UK from South Africa when I was about 15. I turned up in Hull with a South African accent. Some kids thought I’d lived in a mud hut and hunted lions. Seriously,” she tweeted.
“Anyway, there were two young women in my year who hated me. They mocked my accent incessantly (probably why I lost it). They hated that I was bright and interested in learning. They used to try trip me up every time I walked past them.”
She went on to explain that when she reported the behaviour she was told the best way to handle it was just to ignore their taunting. But that did nothing to stop them.
“One year, on the last day of the school year, we had PE together as our final class. They cornered me in the changing rooms at the end of class and beat me up. No one intervened and they took their time so I missed the school bus home.”
She filed a complaint with the police, who visited their houses and talked to the girls and their parents. “I was asked if I wanted them to be excluded from school. I didn’t want them excluded from school. That would just move the problem somewhere else. I wanted it dealt with so they wouldn’t put anyone else through what they put me through.”
Wiles said the experience showed it was not in her nature to ignore such behaviour because you can’t solve a problem by ignoring it.
Wiles told the Weekend Herald her post on bullying was in response to her calling out the harassment she’d had lately.
“Obviously with Wednesday’s announcement there’s been a lot of it. It’s been absolutely amazing — there’s just so many people who have been so pleased with the result but there’s the classic, ‘is she even a New Zealander’ and various things like expertise and hair and that sort of stuff.”
Others had said she did not deserve the award because she was just doing her job. But Wiles asked how that was any different to former All Black captain Richie McCaw winning in 2016.
Her recent posts calling out bullying online were simply intended as a reflection of how she had always been, she said.
“You can keep coming at me, it’s not going to change anything.”
But she did want to call attention to it, not for sympathy, but to stop it happening — to her or anyone else. Wiles said rather than social media pile-ons, she hoped friends and family would pull people aside when they saw unacceptable behaviour and find out what was behind it.
Bullies often needed help rather than punishment, she said.
“For example, the last thing that those young women needed was to be excluded from school because that would ruin whatever potential future they did have.”
It was important to say the behaviour was unacceptable, then to figure out what people need.