Rachel Simmons was amazed there were so many books regarding aggression in boys, but was unable to find any books on the subject of girls’ aggression. The experiments that were conducted regarding aggression were also only performed using males. Many psychologists considered aggression to be behavior such as hitting, punching, name calling and threatening others as a male issue. Simmons discovered from the many interviews she conducted on women that aggression is just as much a female issue. In her book, “The Odd Girl Out: The hidden culture of aggression in girls”, Simmons interviews many women and girls who were victims of bullying, were the actual bully, and also people who witnessed the abuse. Simmons’ purpose for writing this book was to make everyone aware of the secretive way girls bully each other, and to show how they hide their aggression, which many times is the result of their own struggle for acceptance. This book was effective because Simmons also gives the reader suggestions to help everyone involved in some form of aggressive behavior know how to deal with this behavior, and the lifelong consequences it has on everyone involved.
In 1992, a group of Norwegian researchers conducted a study of girls. “They found girls participate in aggression, but they express their anger in unconventional nonphysical ways” (Simmons 20). Another group of experts from the University of Minnesota continued with these findings and found the girl’s aggressive behavior should be classified into three subcategories; relational, indirect, and social aggression” (Simmons 21). An example of relational aggression would be ignoring someone or giving them the “silent treatment” which can be very traumatic for the victim. They wonder what they...
... middle of paper ...
...eneficial due to the suggestions Simmons gives to teachers, parents and the victims themselves on effective ways to avoid and prevent this abusive behavior from continuing. I would highly recommend this book to girls of all ages, parents, teachers, school faculty or anyone who has contact with girls. Simmons believes we need to teach girls that it is okay to expose their most uncomfortable feelings. There are many dangerous warning signs of girls giving themselves over to someone else’s terms and denying their own feelings which worry Simmons the most. This behavior is dangerous and could lead to victims staying in violent relationships in the future if we do not teach girls early to know how to resist the signs of abuse.
Works Cited
Simmons, R. (2002). The odd girl out: The hidden culture of aggression in girls. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books. Pages 1 - 296.
Killbourne mentions, “Many boys grow up feeling that they are unmanly if they are not always “ready for action,” capable of and interested in sex with any woman who is available,” (285). The constant need for physical attention in pre-pubescent and teenage boys has always been in an issue that all generations have witnessed. Boys are pressured into lusty situations by their peers and peer pressure leads them in to what become habitual actions. Stalking, assault, affirmative action and other acts of degrading women are all actions that are completely avoidable when individuals are properly informed of consequences and how these actions can affect others, especially women. The news is a source filled with negative instances of gender-related which include domestic violence, rape, and many other violent
This experiemtn showed kids a video of people acting violenctly toward the doll and then passively toward the doll. The kids how saw the doll actedupon aggressively were more inclined to do the same. Now that the impact of violence has been esstablished. It is important to adress how gender effects children.Tv shows and commercials often steroetype women and men into their roles. Generally in the idea of men being ggressive and dominating over women. Leading to young men thinking that being aggressive over women is ok and shows to young women that if a man is like that toward you it is ok and normal. (Earles, K., Alexander, R., Johnson, M., Liverpool, J., & McGhee,2015) This belief is also supported by an interview with Neil Malamuth from UCLA. in this interview there is one statement that is very relevant to this idea "that violence against women is more accepted and thus the acts of violence are more likely to occur." The easy thing to see is the increase in savage acts that has increased in the last few decades.what is less black a white but just as much a problem is how society as a whole has started
This movie touches on many problematical topics that will have affected the lives of our future clients, such as poverty stricken home environments, substance abuse, poor academic abilities, most importantly, physical and sexual abuse, which ironically the name of this course. Research states “one in four girls and one in 6 boys is sexual abused before the age of 18 and of those girls 30 to 40 percent of those attacks are committed by family members and 50 percent by people whom they know” (BJS,2015). Because many of these survivors will not disclose or is unable to receive adequate psychological treatment, there is a strong likelihood these individuals will grow up with self-esteem issues, difficulty in social relationship, anxiety, depression, and are higher risk for substance abuse and incarceration
Salmivalli, C. (2010). Bullying and the peer group: A review. Aggression & Violent Behavior, 15(2), 112-120. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2009.08.007
Dill, K. E., Gentile, D. A., Richter, W. A., & Dill, J. C. (2005). Violence, sex, race and age in
...g and filled with detailed solutions for each act of child abuse. The book allows the reader to visual themselves in each situation and knows how to react towards such each incident. It helped me understand why adults abused as children act the way they do when it comes to social interaction. Personally, I have attained new information that I was unaware of. In the beginning, I have always believed that child abuse only involved physical or sexual abuse. I did not know that emotional abuse actually existed. I was unaware of the fact that emotional abuse gravely affects children as they grow up. This book may open up the minds of people who are unaware of or refuse to believe that child abuse is occurring daily in our society because it is so informative and persuasive at the same time. If one needs to educate themselves concerning child abuse, consider this book.
On the news stories of girls being raped, killed, and dumped air frequently. This act happens more than it should, if possible it should never happen. In families it happens every day of their life. Sexual abuse occurs, for most victims, with someone they know. “Any situation in which you are forced to participate in unwanted, unsafe, or degrading sexual activity is sexual abuse. Forced sex, even by a spouse or intimate partner with whom you also have consensual sex, is an act of aggression and violence. Furthermore, people whose partners abuse them physically and sexually are at a higher risk of being seriously injured or killed” (Smith and Segal).
The documentary film Bully (2011) – directed by Lee Hirsh – takes the viewer into the lives of five families that live in various, predominantly remote, towns across the United States. All families presented have been affected by bullying, either because their child was at the time being bullied by peers at school or the child committed suicide due to continuous bullying. The film also profiles an assistant principle, Kim Lockwood, whose indiscreetness makes the viewer...
Lind is especially qualified as her profession in Women’s studies and her other works suggest that she has spent a large period focusing her attention of the effects of violence on women. The progression of their evidence proceeds logically as they describe how, “at best, claims that girls’ violence is rising apply to girls of 15 to 25 years ago, not today” (105). Unfortunately their data is not relevant, as it focuses almost entirely on violence by and against women, and most female bullies favor more subtle, verbal bullying to get at their
There is a hidden culture of girl's aggression in which bullying is epidemic, distinctive, and destructive. Girls use backbiting, exclusion, rumors, name-calling, and manipulation to inflict psychological pain on targeted victims. Unlike boys, who tend to bully acquaintances or strangers, girls attack within their own group of friends. This makes it harder to identify and increases the damage to the victims (Simmons, 2002, p. 3).
As aggression in the media increases, studies examining its effects on human behavior do as well. It is widely accepted that physical aggression is characterized by physical violence. On the other hand, social aggression is characterized by both verbal and nonverbal actions typically ranging from gossip and rumors to ignoring peers. While a plethora of studies have focused on physical aggression, there are some that indicate pertinent information relating to social aggression. One study conducted by Crick, Bigbee, and Howes, indicates that there is a higher prevalence of social aggression among females than males, while another conducted by Coyne and Archer found 92% of programs popular among adolescents aged 11-14 contained acts of social
Studies show how there is a change in behavior in both the female and male children, but shown in different ways. For male’s, aggression is shown more as a physical form while for girls it’s shown in a backstabbing form showing the difference in aggression among males and females. For females, its more common for rumors to start while for males its more common for physical attacks making females involve in the idea to intent to harm someone mentally. There are always outside factors like culture and environmental factors can cause aggression to take place. Viewing physical violence on television can influence relational and verbal aggression. Relational aggression meaning as in any type of indirect or direct aggression involves in the damage in relationships or feelings of acceptances. This was mostly seen in preschoolers, teenagers, and even adults causing the activation of either prime or all types of aggression when exposed to the violence shown in the
Decade’s later domestic violence incidents have fallen by more than 70 percents. The best plan to solve the problem within domestic violence is keep trying prevention programs, scale up the most promising ones and study how well they work. One of the best ways is to stop people from becoming[an abuser in the first places. Wide ethnical communication make a different, not just what children see and hear within families, neighbors but also people that plays impacted roles on televisions and in sports. “Researches themes should include how men treat women ad how they express they express their emotions” Cohn (2014). Our man and boys need to be raised letting them know it’s okay to show emotion. Crying, showing fear or other weakness that show there emotions.
Today's society has an ideology of what assertive males should be. As the boys grow up they are told that they are strong, hard-working and should be dominant. This leads to portraying girls as being weak, sensitive, and mostly that they are submissive. Many people assume that a girl's role in society is to stay at home and take care of their children. This is because of the sexism that society has created for women. Sexism is the stereotyping or discrimination typically against women based on gender. This plays a major role in teen dating violence because, since a young age, boys are taught that girls should show respect and obey them in any given circumstances which contribute to macho values for boys. There was a study done to both girls
Bullying and sexual harassment perhaps do not immediately come to mind when discussing school violence, however they are two of the most widespread and pervasive issues facing schools today. While the word “bully” brings to mind a harmless school age right of passage to many, research today shows that bullies often times have a number of family or social problems. Also, in today’s modern world, bullies may not merely shake down classmates for lunch money; they have found ways to hound their victims long after they have left the school grounds by using the internet. Another form of bullying is sexual harassment, which is bullying based on the person’s gender or sexual preferences. Sexual harassment is a very damaging problem, especially to school age child who have yet to develop a strong sexual identity of their own. While sexual harassment is generally considered to be aimed from a male to a female, both males and females are victims and perpetrators of this destructive act. For people who are not knowledgeable on the subject of school violence, they may be confused on where the line has been crossed and dangerous behavior begins, nevertheless, there is clear data on who is a bully, what behavior is characterized by a bully, who are victims of bullies, what sexual harassment is, and who is affected by sexual harassment.