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Albany, NY – In today's Academic Minute, Dr. Horace Hall of DePaul University examines the underlying causes for a recent increase in violent behavior among girls.
Horace Hall is associate professor at DePaul University in the College of Education's department of Educational Policy Studies and Research. He is also the founder and co-director of the school-based youth mentoring program R.E.A.L. (Respect, Excellence, Attitude and Leadership), which is designed to engage young people in critical thinking and social activism. Hall and Andrea Brown-Thirston co-authored the book, Understanding Teenage Girls: Culture, Identity and Schooling.
Dr. Horace Hall - Girls and Violence
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that growing numbers of girls are being suspended or expelled for using their fists to settle disputes in schools nationwide. As juvenile crime rates decline nationwide, the disparity between boys who still commit an overwhelming majority of violent offenses and girls has been lessening. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reports that between 1995 and 2002, arrests for violent crimes among girls increased, while the rate for boys decreased almost every year.
Researchers warn that looking at females through a masculine lens wrongly compares their motives for violence to that of boys. Overlooking why young women resort to violence disregards their voice and possible circumstances around mistreatment. Girls may resort to violence to give voice to anger, defend themselves, demonstrate authority, or maintain levels of resilience.
The fact that girls account for 1 out of 4 violent episodes nationwide may coincide with changing views of femininity. Women now participate in traditionally male-dominated pursuits such as sports and politics and exhibit typically male personality traits like outspokenness, physical toughness and aggressiveness. This has flipped conventional gender and sexual scripts upside down and forced society to rethink antiquated perceptions around "femaleness."
Girls, however, have not taken on male roles as a direct result of sociopolitical gains. Rather, these gains have worked to transform America's traditionally male-dominated terrain, giving young women a broader range of ideas about what they can do and be.
This transposing of male and female scripts creates a confluence of gender that leads society to conclude that females are becoming as violent as males, without understanding the broader context behind women's physical aggressiveness in the first place.