NCJ Number
220720
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 13 Issue: 12 Dated: December 2007 Pages: 1249-1273
Date Published
December 2007
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This article explores the role that the sex-gender system plays in shaping both the violence and victimization of girls and as key policies related to these issues.
Abstract
With reference to girls’ violence, there is a widespread notion that girls are becoming more violent, an impression fueled by steep increases in arrests of girls for assault. Policymakers have been repeatedly told that this phenomenon is a product of girls becoming more like boys and acting out violently. As a consequence, although girls’ violence has actually been decreasing, girls arrests for this behavior have been increasing, fueled by a series of policy changes that are criminalizing girls, particularly girls of color. Closer analysis shows that arrest trends reflect emerging practices focused on control of girls in family and school settings. This article has shown that girls are disadvantaged not only in the criminal justice system, but also in school systems. The construction of bullying prevention as a solution removes persistent inequities that are both structural and psychological and that find their home in our educational and legal systems. This article has reviewed the consequences of degendering violence and victimization for girls. It is widely acknowledged that the arena of violence against women has been haunted by the problems associated with constructions of “domestic violence that ignore the context of violence against women and women’s intent if they do act out violently.” Less well understood is the fact that the same problems are also appearing in treatments of girls’ violence and their victimization in schools and communities. Renaming “sexual harassment” as “bullying” tends to psychopathologize gender violence while simultaneously stripping girl victims of powerful legal rights and remedies. References