Mean Girls

My question is, then, to them and to you, is it really this serious? Is this “unnamed problem” truly as severe and as widespread as you claim it is? I wonder, although you clearly have lots of experience with adolescent girls, if perhaps you tend to see more of one side of this issue than the other. My thinking would be that as a therapist, you see the girls who do deal with this problem, but not the ones who are okay. You write about adolescent girls, “Just as planes and ships disappear mysteriously into the Bermuda Triangle, so do the selves of girls go down in droves. They crash and burn in a social and developmental Bermuda Triangle” (19). The way you seem to portray it in your writing is that all girls of this age deal with dilemma, nearly without exception, and it seems that you fail to recognize that there are, surely, some girls who don’t experience this. To repeat, I don’t disagree with the purpose of your writing, and I don’t ignore the problem at hand, but I do believe that you exaggerate on the severity of the trouble that adolescent girls are currently in as a result of our

(Viramontes 1985, 32) The girl often got whippings to the point she was “used to them” and she did not fit in with her sisters and the “girl things they could do.” (Viramontes 1985, 32) The fourteen year-old

When girls are labeled like this is can be very hard for them to fit in. However what's even worse to some girls is being called the girl who thinks she's "all that" (Simmons, 162). Cyberbullying was also discussed among person stories. Girls can gang up on other girls online either by sending a mean message or posting a rude comment. Girls feelings can also get hurt when their friends post a picture of something that they weren't invited to.

Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Tina Fey, Lacey Chabert, Daniel Franzese, and Lizzy Caplan. Director: Mark Waters Synopsis: After spending most of her life being homeschooled in Africa by her anthropologist parents, Cady Heron moves to Illinois and enters high school; the real jungle. She quickly makes friends with Janice and Damien, the social outcasts.

I chose the article, Navigating Power, Control, and Being Nice: Aggression in Adolescent Girls’ Friendships, because it examined the relationship between gender role identify and relational aggression, a common theme throughout Wisemans’ Queen Bees and Wannabes. In my chapter review(s) I commented a lot on the balancing act that both young girls and boys face in both the adolescent and adult world and I wanted to research the topic further because as a teacher I have experience firsthand the affect it can have on an individual. The study focuses on 52 girls with the mean age of 15, 70% of which were white and 30% non-white from the mid-Atlantic U.S. The girls participated in interviews, a Relational Aggression Scale, and a Bem Sex- Role Inventory in order to find the answer to the following questions; what is the cause of relational aggression? And what influences the manner in which females resolve conflicts?

In regards to relational aggression, it was measured using the relational aggression subscale of the form-function aggression measure (FFAM) The FFAM is a self-report inventory that is used to present statements to the girls and they were asked to relate themselves to the statement presented and rate themselves on how typical that behavior related to them. They rated this on a scale 1-4 with 1 being not at all and 4 being very much. This relational aggression subscale included 13 items including statements such as: “If others upset or hurt me, I often tell my friends to stop liking them.” And “I am the kind of person who tells my friends to stop liking someone.” The scores represented the sum for all items in question. The results concluded

Teenagers tend to act with abrasive and juvenile behavior, which makes most adults and educators generally ignore behavior issues, so as not to have to deal with them, which only fuels the social jungle of high school. The principal and teachers of the high school in Mean Girls seemed to be turned off to the social realm of their school until a physical fight broke out forcing them to intervene. The knowledge of “girl world” rules seemed to benefit “Cady” the most and be both directly and indirectly encouraged by those around her. Knowing that she could only have her hair in a ponytail once a week, could not repeat a tank top two days in a row, that jeans and track pants were only allowed on Friday, and, most importantly, how to properly manipulate everyone around her rose “Cady” to royalty status making everything else obsolete. When only the “nerds” and “art freaks” would accept her with academic success, the entire school would admire her for social success. Social dominance truly seems greater than achieving scholastic achievements in American high schools. Why be the smart gazelle when you can be the strong lioness? Even the best gazelle, on its’ worst day, is lion food.

Many believed it is because girls attack each other emotionally. One student said that girls “talk negatively toward each other.” Another student claimed, “Girls lower self-esteem and emotionally hurt others.”

“Average of 9.5% of the 4,163 girls surveyed in 1997 and 1999 nearly four percent reported sexual abuse” (Levine 2). Sexual pressures are very dangerous. They cause “Nearly one in five teenage girls had been physically or sexual abused by a date” (Levine 1). In fact, 17% of teens in a recent survey report that a boyfriend or girlfriend has made them afraid to not respond to a cell phone call, email, IM, or text message because of what he or she might do” ( Abusive Teen Dating Partners 3). If there are five girls in a group and all asked the same questions about being physically or sexual abused by a date at least one would say yes that they have been sexually abused. That would be 20% of high school girls. High school girls experience in increased amount of sexual pressures within

This article talks about the victimization within mutually antipathetic peer relationship. A section in the article talks about how it is important to know about the aggression, that takes place inside of these relationships. In another section, it talks about the more victimization that is done in a same-sex relationship. It points out the percentages of victimization takes place in all of these relationships between dyads. It also addresses in another section the study of peer rejection and how it plays a role. Peer rejection helps make these victims feel weak and unwanted. Antipathetic relationships are viewed as more aggressive relationships with their peers. They usually result in hostile acts towards their peers or friends. The information

Bullying and sexual assault are unfortunately all too common amongst students at this age. The desire to fit in with one's peers often leads to these behaviors being imitated and repeated instead of challenged, a concept referred to in the psychological literature as normative influence. Research has also shown that when others are labeled in a way that “others” them, the frequency and severity of harmful acts against them increases. This is referred

Any individual who was born in the current generation or has a child in this generation has assuredly seen High School Musical. With its flashy song and dance numbers, snort-invoking humor, and characters nothing short of flamboyant, High School Musical is sure to enthrall children and adults alike. The masterminds behind the famed cinematic production developed a movie so entrancing that 11 years later, both past and present Disney fanatics are still watching and discussing it. Yet, the hype surrounding the film has dissolved slightly, as no new sequels have been released in nine years. However, those longing for the days of new High School Musical news need to wait no longer. Disney World has pulled together the top minds in the engineering

Adolescent naivety, denigration, individual fable, and fictional audience refer to the stage of a teen’s life that that seek attention from other peoples and their peers. All their activities are done with fear of criticism, denial, or embarrassment from their counterparts who will think less about them. Socializing with women of my age was a challenge in my teenage years. My worry during those times was the things to speak in the presence of the women and their reactions to the things that we will discuss. The transitioning to adulthood was troublesome with the challenge of making a formal decision on how to approach the issues of life without doubting my decisions or the things I considered right.

Researchers use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to test their theory that there is an association between bullying and adolescent concerns about teen dating violence. Dating violence and bullying share similar characteristics. “For example, a dating partner may use physical violence or emotional threats of violence to maintain power and control over the other. It can be repeated and intentional, thus exemplifying similar characteristics as bullying perpetration”. The target audience in this audience it teens and adolescents. The authors would like for us to be aware of the correlation between bullying and teen dating violence.

It makes me wonder what does the adolescents friendship and aggression like and why does this kind of horrible things happen to them. In the developmental psychology book Infants, Chidren and Adolescents(Berkins, 2011), there are some details about adolescents friendship that I found useful to comprehend a broad idea of it. Adolescents friendships are becoming more important to them than earlier life stages, because of the more time they spend with their peers. Three were mentioned when adolescents were being asked what is the meaning of friendship. Those are: Intimacy, which is feeling psychological close, mutual understanding, which is the common understanding of each other’s beliefs and loyalty, which is not abandon others and stay close. According to these