Girlfighting: Betrayal and Rejection among Girls - Hardcover

Brown, Lyn Mikel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814799159 ISBN 13: 9780814799154

Publisher: NYU Press, 2003

Synopsis

For some time, reality TV, talk shows, soap-operas, and sitcoms have turned their spotlights on women and girls who thrive on competition and nastiness. Few fairytales lack the evil stepmother, wicked witch, or jealous sister. Even cartoons feature mean and sassy girls who only become sweet and innocent when adults appear. And recently, popular books and magazines have turned their gaze away from ways of positively influencing girls' independence and self-esteem and towards the topic of girls' meanness to other girls. What does this say about the way our culture views girlhood? How much do these portrayals affect the way girls view themselves?

In Girlfighting, psychologist and educator Lyn Mikel Brown scrutinizes the way our culture nurtures and reinforces this sort of meanness in girls. She argues that the old adage “girls will be girls”—gossipy, competitive, cliquish, backstabbing— and the idea that fighting is part of a developmental stage or a rite-of-passage, are not acceptable explanations. Instead, she asserts, girls are discouraged from expressing strong feelings and are pressured to fulfill unrealistic expectations, to be popular, and struggle to find their way in a society that still reinforces gender stereotypes and places greater value on boys. Under such pressure, in their frustration and anger, girls (often unconsciously) find it less risky to take out their fears and anxieties on other girls instead of challenging the ways boys treat them, the way the media represents them, or the way the culture at large supports sexist practices.

Girlfighting traces the changes in girls' thoughts, actions and feelings from childhood into young adulthood, providing the developmental understanding and theoretical explanation often lacking in other conversations. Through interviews with over 400 girls of diverse racial, economic, and geographic backgrounds, Brown chronicles the labyrinthine journey girls take from direct and outspoken children who like and trust other girls, to distrusting and competitive young women. She argues that this familiar pathway can and should be interrupted and provides ways to move beyond girlfighting to build girl allies and to support coalitions among girls.

By allowing the voices of girls to be heard, Brown demonstrates the complex and often contradictory realities girls face, helping us to better understand and critique the socializing forces in their lives and challenging us to rethink the messages we send them.

About this title

About the Author:

Lyn Mikel Brown is Associate Professor of Education and Women's, Gender, and Sexual Studies at Colby College and co-creator of Hardy Girls Healthy Women (www.hardygirlshealthywomen.org). She is the author of Raising Their Voices: The Politics of Girls’ Anger and, with Carol Gilligan, Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development. She lives in Waterville, ME.

Review:

“Brown’s book, however, is a clear departure from the film [Mean Girls] stereotypes about dumb, mean, backstabbing girls.”
-Waterville, Sunday Morning Sentinel

“Brown declares that to change the patterns of female animosity we must address the social environment as well as the individual.”
-Women's Review of Books

“Girlfighting is a serious and intelligent analysis of the cruelty and meanness involved in girls' relationships at each stage of development.”
-Pyschiatric Services

“While schools and parents scramble to once again 'fix girls' via meanness prevention programs, Lyn Brown gives us a wider, different, and eye-opening view of the problem. . . . This is the smartest book on mean girls around.”
-Sharon Lamb,author of The Secret Lives of Girls

“This book opens discussion related to the female gender role and the socialization of girls in many different, thought provoking ways, and serves as a timely critique of the current societal messages directed toward girls.”
-Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy

About this edition

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0814799159
• ISBN 13: 9780814799154
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 259