Sarcasm is the most cutting form of humour because it makes a statement that is designed to criticise another person and makes an inappropriate joke out of others thoughts/beliefs/feelings/behaviour at the expense of the individuals well-being or reputation. Sarcasm is designed to try and make the bully look better than you or smarter than you and to demean you in a way that makes them clever or superior in comparison to you. A bully will tell you that sarcasm is part of their quirky sense of humour and that you should suck it up buttercup, however the reality is that sarcasm has a mean streak and at times it is used as a weapon to wound people. Okay if you made a silly mistake and we are all laughing then fine, but if you are the butt of the laughter and others (bully included) are laughing but it was serious to you then woah, that’s not nice.
Yes, highly sensitive people can overreact to playful sarcasm that wasn’t meant to wound, so we need to be careful of that, but in general I would say that sarcasm is more often unpleasant for the recipient. It would be nice if people would tone it down and be more respectful but the reality is that a sarcastic person is more likely to put you down even more for asking them to stop. Our honesty about their unwanted comments may make our expectations clear and assertively let them know what we won’t tolerate, and this is recommended if there is resentment building over it. If you are unfortunate enough to have family that disregard your feelings on these matters, try to remember that their sarcasm is not about you, it is about them and their own insecurities or their absence of values that respect other people. If they won’t stop, choose to spend less time with them.