Content analysis of interviews revealed gender differences in students' reactions to verbal aggression. Another interesting finding was the differentiation between verbally aggressive messages meant to be for fun from those that were not so meant based on (1) contextual cues, (2) other peers' reaction, and (3) the malleability of the personal features that were the topic of the attack. Observing friendly peers were found to play an important role in reducing tension and preventing the escalation of violence. However, when the verbally aggressive message targeted a permanent physical characteristic or the student's social or ethnic identity, then suffering, anger and humiliation legitimized the escalation from verbal to physical aggression for students of both genders. (Published Abstract)