Bullying: Girls learn strategies to cope
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER
TEANECK – Taylor Worrell-Stith, a high-achieving 13-year-old at Benjamin Franklin Middle School, readily acknowledges the catty, hurtful and sometimes threatening behavior girls unleash on each other in school.
“A lot of bullying happens at school. I’ve done it,” said Taylor, recalling an incident last year in which she used text messages to get several friends to stop talking to another friend. “I believe it was over a boy,” she said, adding that she later reconciled with the friend.
On television and in movies, they are known as bullies or “mean girls,” females whose arsenal includes the silent treatment, hostility, manipulation, stinging insults and fear to hurt other girls, often damaging relationships.
But at Teaneck High School on Saturday, Rachel Simmons, author of “Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls,” gave Taylor and about three dozen other girls a new term for such behaviors – female aggression.
“A lot of what happens in girl relationships gets swept under the rug,” said Simmons, who spoke as part of the 3rd Annual Female Empowerment Conference for members of HEAL mentoring group at the high school and STEPS and DREAMS mentoring groups in the two middle schools.
“A lot of bullying happens at school. I’ve done it,” said Taylor, recalling an incident last year in which she used text messages to get several friends to stop talking to another friend. “I believe it was over a boy,” she said, adding that she later reconciled with the friend.
On television and in movies, they are known as bullies or “mean girls,” females whose arsenal includes the silent treatment, hostility, manipulation, stinging insults and fear to hurt other girls, often damaging relationships.
But at Teaneck High School on Saturday, Rachel Simmons, author of “Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls,” gave Taylor and about three dozen other girls a new term for such behaviors – female aggression.
“A lot of what happens in girl relationships gets swept under the rug,” said Simmons, who spoke as part of the 3rd Annual Female Empowerment Conference for members of HEAL mentoring group at the high school and STEPS and DREAMS mentoring groups in the two middle schools.