Feminist Denial Of Biological Sex Difs: A Big Scoop Of Govt.-Funded Fairy Tale On "Mean Girls"
We have some "science"-flavored wishful bullshit over at a government website, stopbullying.gov -- which I discovered via somebody's retweet of an irate feminist author, Nancy Jo Sales.
Whole big ole list of credits on that "stopbullying.gov" piece.
Pamela Orpinas, Health Promotion and Behavior, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia;Alana Vivolo-Kantor, Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
Caroline McNicholas, Health Promotion and Behavior, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia;
Lusine Nahapetyan, Kinesiology and Health Studies, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, Louisiana.
These "researchers'" (cum ideologues) anti-bullying piece is titled: "The Myth of 'Mean Girls'"
Their take, that the "mean girls" thing is a myth, runs contrary to piles of evidence on sex differences in human behavior -- from infancy on.
Their post sounds all evidence'y and all. But it's not, for anyone -- like me -- who's read the research (evidence-based, not feminist ideology-tainted) on female competition.
They don't link to any particular study or say who it happens to be by; they just link to the entire journal of "Aggressive Behavior."
There is, however, a link in their piece to a research-based infographic that -- I love this -- actually supports the "mean girls" thing they try to pooh-pooh!
BOYS MORE LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE:Physical bullyingGIRLS MORE LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE:
Verbal bullying
Rumor-spreading
Exclusion
Cyber-bullying
Of course, feminist researchers need to pretend males and females are the same -- as the religion of feminism demands, and they wind up their piece with this bit:
In the meantime, we should stop the erroneous stereotype of relational aggression as a predominantly female behavior, and we should work to promote and reinforce positive interactions among all youth.
I found this piece of theirs when I saw this @NancyJoSales snarl -- uh, tweet:
Anderson Cooper on CNN comparing Trump to a "mean girl." Can we finally just stop using this sexist trope? Girls as a group are no meaner than anyone else. It's a misogynistic myth, bad for them to hear again and again. https://t.co/HV8kwGdzxN
— Nancy Jo Sales (@nancyjosales) November 14, 2017
My reply:
The evidence-free remark here is coming from you. Research on sex differences find that girls mainly act through covert aggression: Yes, the "mean girls" thing. @andersoncooper made a funny. So often a prob for the dour feminist. https://t.co/n7a5Nb47vX
— Amy Alkon (@amyalkon) November 14, 2017
What I so often see from feminists is a sort of angry wishful-thinking approach to life. It's so tiresome.
Sales wrote some best-selling book, American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers. I did "search this book" on Amazon (and then went to the bibliography) to look for names of sex differences researchers in it. A bunch of them. Not surprisingly, the cupboard was bare.
What research actually reflects is what I wrote about in this column -- that women typically engage in "covert aggression." Yes, the "mean girl" thing -- whereas men are more likely to sock each other:
Stopping her would be easier if you two were guys: "I don't like the way you're talking about my boobs, Marjorie. Let's take this outside."But while men will sock each other in the bar parking lot (and can sometimes go back in and have a beer), women engage in what anthropologists call "covert aggression" -- attacks that are hard to pinpoint as attacks, like gossip, social exclusion, and stabbing another woman in the self-worth. ("Stabracadabra!" -- you're bleeding out, but nobody but you can tell!)
Psychologist Anne Campbell, like others who study female competition, explains that women seem to have evolved to avoid physical confrontation, which would endanger their ability to have children or fulfill their role as an infant's principal caregiver. (Ancestral Daddy couldn't exactly run up to the store for baby formula.) So while guys will engage in put-down fests as a normal part of guy-ness, even women's verbal aggression is usually sneaky and often comes Halloween-costumed as compliments or concern: "Ooh, honey, do you need some Clearasil for those bumps on your chest?"
The tarted-up put-down is a form of psychological manipulation -- a sly way of making a woman feel bad about herself so she'll self-locate lower on the totem pole. And because men have visually driven sexuality, women specialize in knocking other women where it really hurts -- their looks. Like those supposedly minuscule boobs of yours. (Right...you'll have a latte, and she'll just have another mug of your tears.)
The next time that she, say, turns a trip to the mall into a riff -- "Har-har...Victoria's Secret is that they don't carry your size!" -- pull her aside. (In a group of women, conflict resolution is most successful when it's as covert as female aggression -- as in, not recognizable as fighting back.) By not letting the others hear, you remove the emotionally radioactive element of shaming. This helps keep your defense from being perceived as an attack on her -- yes, making you the bad guy.
This isn't to say women are never physically aggressive; in fact, I was bullied by a gang of girls who got a bit physical in junior high.
However, physical violence is an uncommon approach for women, as researcher Joyce Benenson points out in her excellent book on sex differences in psychology and behavior "Warriors and Worriers." Here's a bit:
P.S. Anne Campbell, who died this past year, has been one of the primary researchers on sex differences, focusing on the female end of things.
Sort of an amazing feat that this woman, Nancy Jo Sales, can write a whole book on teenagers and not have one mention of the lady or her considerable body of work.
Feminism today! It's all about ideology and never mind that meaniepoo science!
You can count me out, thanks!
In case you're new 'round here, I call myself a humanist -- and yes, I know that term has some meanings hitched to it already. However, I use it to explain that I'm for individual rights -- defending those of anyone who has them attacked, no matter whether that's a penis or a vagina in their pants.
And no, in case any feminists have wandered over here, it isn't an attack on rights to observe that there are physiological and psychological differences between the sexes. It's science.
Of course there are no mean girls, it's basic sugar and spice theory, now taught as part of feminism 101.
jerry at November 13, 2017 11:21 PM
@Jerry: I believe you mean that “there are no mean girls” unless you happen to disagree with a feminist. Then, there is no behavior to attack, harm and destroy your relationships, reputation and livelihood, which is considered as crossing the line - including but not limited to doxing, false accusations of criminal behavior such as physical or sexual abuse, contacting employers, clients, and relatives, or impersonating you to attribute false, discrediting racist, misogynistic, etc., behavior or statements to you. But, I guess that all is fair in love, war and feminism.
Wfjag at November 14, 2017 12:05 AM
GIRLS MORE LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE:
Verbal bullying
Rumor-spreading
Exclusion
Cyber-bullying
Not based on any research, just my observation:
Girls are more likely to experience those types of bullying from boys too, though mostly from girls.
Boys also experience verbal bullying, cyber bullying and exclusion by both boys and girls. Bullying against boys is more likely to be overt and public, especially when inflicted by other boys.
Girls also experience physical bullying by other girls, and bullying in the form of threats, intimidation and humiliation by both girls and boys. Girls are a lot more likely to engage in physical violence than girls were in previous generations.
Bullying by boys against girls may involve indiscreet or degrading sexual scenarios.
Girls are less likely to physically bully and intimidate boys than they are other girls, for obvious reasons.
When boys bully other boys, physically or verbally, it's usually overt and public, in front of an audience. When they physically bully a girl they're more likely to do it in private. I guess many still consider it dishonorable to hit a girl. But there are way too many girls who tolerate physical and sexual abuse.
This is what I see in the kids I work with. I don't know if it's the same elsewhere. I'm wondering if others of you see the same thing or something different.
Ken R at November 14, 2017 2:50 AM
Their take, that the "mean girls" thing is a myth, runs contrary to piles of evidence on sex differences in human behavior -- from infancy on.
And contrary to the observation and experience of anyone who's ever spent more than an hour in an environment populated by more than two girls.
The Whole big ole list of credits on that "stopbullying.gov" piece is conspicuously lacking even a single name that would traditionally be associated with someone identifying as male and bearing both a penis and testicles. So it's obviously tainted by gender bias. And it doesn't list a single credential for any of the authors; just the names of institutions they are presumably associated with, perhaps as staff, or maybe as students.
Ken R at November 14, 2017 3:13 AM
Benenson points out that girls bond through sharing vulnerabilities and that women women and girls get upset at anybody who stands out from the group. For men, from boyhood on, competition is part of life and something they enjoy. They accept that life works out to be hierarchical. It's not a reason to start a whispering campaign about somebody's shoes.
(See SixClaws comment on this post -- second comment down.)
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2017/11/13/the_sewing_circ.html
Amy Alkon at November 14, 2017 5:04 AM
Another great comment on that post -- right on -- from bkmale:
Amy Alkon at November 14, 2017 5:05 AM
The 50th-percentile woman really isn't capable of doing a lot of physical damage, sans weapon. That would be one reason to avoid physical confrontations -- it isn't very effective, and if the confrontation is with a man, the woman may wind up severely injured. (Hence the social prohibition against men physically fighting with women, except under the most dire of circumstances.)
My observation is that when a woman has physical dirty work that she wants done, she'll generally try to convince a man to do it for her. The canonical example is contract murders -- it's one of the few violent felonies (at a step removed) for which women are convicted at a rate approaching that of men. Lesser examples abound. When I was an intern at college, there was a woman who worked there who was intensely interested in whether or not another (well endowed) woman's boobs were real or not. At a party, she (the first woman) tried to convince me to "accidentally" grope the other woman, and tell her if they felt real. Even being rather plastered, I saw a major opportunity to get in trouble, so I chickened out, and then later I told her "yeah, they were real". (Not that I really would have been able to tell the difference at that age.)
Cousin Dave at November 14, 2017 6:24 AM
Let's see, two people from "Health Promotion and Behavior" whatever that is, a person from "Kinesiology and Health Studies" which is the study of body motion and mechanics, and one person from the CDCP Violence Prevention unit.
Not a one of them is identified with a field of expertise or a credential that might lend gravitas to their research and findings. For all we know, they could be accountants or clerks in those departments.
Sounds like the coffee klatch got butt-hurt watching a movie. Or the book club took exception to the latest bodice ripper.
What is "relational aggression?"
Conan the Grammarian at November 14, 2017 6:26 AM
irate feminist
Is there any other kind in the third wave of feminism? and even in the whole of feminism, there are relatively few happy warriors.
I R A Darth Aggie at November 14, 2017 8:41 AM
And so you know, kinesiology is the fancy term for the educational degree that was called "physical education" a number of years ago.
I R A Darth Aggie at November 14, 2017 8:49 AM
In junior high, a high status guy was teasing me in gym class outside (teacher had gone in for a while) so I jumped him and we wrestled. It was a draw but for me a win because he was so high status. Absolutely no hard feelings. Recently at a party with middle aged guys and there was all sorts of calling names and pretending that you were going to pull the stool out from under the guy or eat his food. It was hilarious. A guy can call another guy a d*ck head and everyone laughs. Women can't take being called a name at all and never punch in good fun. To claim they are the same is to admit you are a terrible observer of human beings in the wild.
cc at November 14, 2017 8:54 AM
Imagine the world run by women, in which President Ivanka Trump and Russian Premier Raisa Gorbachev would be insulting each other's looks and comparing notches on their bedposts to the point of getting us to nuke each other.
mpetrie98 at November 14, 2017 9:20 AM
We don't have to imagine. We've had women leaders in history and we can look to their behavior.
Conan the Grammarian at November 14, 2017 9:31 AM
I don't know Mpetrie98. Given Russian leaders tendency to run around topless the idea of Premier Ivanka Gorbachev has some appeal.
Ben at November 14, 2017 10:54 AM
Girls are mean everywhere. I know because I went to high schools in Florida, California, Rhode Island and Georgia. They are bitches with different accents.
StephUF at November 14, 2017 2:10 PM
It's the oldest story in the world, or at least the oldest story in my lifetime.
Facts get buried in the name of political correctness. Very recently, I had a discussion on Twitter about the fact that in unreciprocated domestic violence, women are the perpetrators in 70% of the cases. When I searched for a website to corroborate this claim, I found this website.
A Harvard study which got scrubbed because feminists didn't like their conclusions.
Patrick at November 15, 2017 4:59 AM
It is my anecdotal impression that often domestic violence starts with the woman screaming and throwing things and hitting the husband, who holds his temper for a while but eventually lashes out. Since most women can hit their husbands with their fists all day without hurting him, but if he hits her she is severely damaged (broken nose, etc), this strength asymmetry leads to the husband getting arrested. Even a wife threatening with a knife is generally not taken seriously by law enforcement or by society. Where both partners are female (lesbians), the rate of domestic violence is much higher than average. Weakly committed couples (just sort of living together) also have a much higher than average violence rate.
cc at November 15, 2017 1:00 PM
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