Weekdays at 9 p.m. (9:30 p.m. NT) and Mondays at 2 p.m. (2:30 p.m. NT)
What does the social world of girls look like? At first glance, it's about
sharing secrets, giggling over boys and carefree fun. But lurking underneath
this facade of niceness is a hidden culture of nastiness that pits one friend
against another. Lynn Glazier examines the tumultuous nature of
female relationships from girlhood to adulthood; from the playground to the
office.
Listen to Part 1
Social aggression in girls is now being studied for the first time after decades of research on physical bullying among boys. Research conducted around the world shows that girls everywhere are motivated to use their closest relationships as weapons, regardless of class, race or family background. Why do girls resort to covert tactics like shunning, exclusion, eye rolling and rumour mongering to win and keep their place in the social hierarchy? Through insightful commentary from leading North American experts and an insiders view into the workings of a clique of ten-year-old girls, the foundation of the hidden culture of aggression in girls and hopes to combat it through challenging societal attitudes are explored. Listen to Part 2
What are the costs when society insists that "catty" behaviour is normal, natural and expected from girls? Fourteen-year-old Dawn-Marie Wesley paid the ultimate price when she killed herself to escape the persistent social torment of her friends. She named three girls in her suicide note resulting in criminal charges and a precedent setting court case. This is a cautionary tale for every player in a social dynamic that can easily spiral out of control. Through exclusive interviews with Dawn-Marie's family, closest friends and one girl convicted of criminally harassing her, a startlingly complex picture of denial, blame, guilt and a continuing struggle to heal emerges. Listen to Part 3
New evidence suggests that women pack up their social baggage from childhood and tote it to the office with their briefcases. Professional relationships among women at work are mired in the same dynamics that propelled them into hurtful behaviours in their younger years. Now the stakes are higher - their career is on the line. More than that, the male-dominated organizational structures of the workplace may actually foster resentment, cut-throat competition and power struggles among female bosses and their employees. After four decades of feminist efforts and hard won parity with men, a woman's success may well come at the expense of her own sex.Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls by Mary Pipher, (Ballantine, 1994).
Fast Girls: Teenage Tribes and the Myth of the Slut by Emily White, (Scribner 2002).
Sex, Power and the Violent School Girl, by Sibylle Artz, (Teachers College, 1999).
The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander: From Pre-school
to High School: How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the
Cycle of Violence by Barbara Coloroso,
(Harper, 2003).
Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female Bullying
by Cheryl Dellasega and Charisse
Nixon, (Fireside, 2003).
When Girls Feel Fat: Helping Girls Through Adolescence, by Sandra Susan Friedman, (Firefly, 2000). Read an excerpt on the Firefly Books website.
Re-writing Reality: Young Women on Their Search for Self. ed. by Azmina N. Ladha, (The Freda Centre, 2003). For more info visit the website .
Raising Their Voices: The Politics of Girls' Anger by Lyn Mikel Brown, (Harvard, 1998).
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls
by Rachel
Simmons, (1st
edition, Harcourt, 2002).
Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write about Bullies,
Cliques, Popularity, and Jealousy by Rachel
Simmons,
(Harvest, 2004).
Social Aggression Among Girls by Marian K. Underwood, (Guilford, 2003).
Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence by Rosalind Wiseman, (Crown, 2002).
Facing the Schoolyard Bully: How to raise an Assertive Child in an Aggressive World by Kim Zarzour, (Firefly, 2003). Read an excerpt on the Firefly Books website.
Children Who Bully: Will They Just Grow Out of It?, by Wendy M. Craig and Debra Pepler. Orbit.(1999): Vol. 29, No. 4. 16-19. OISE.
Getting to the Roots of Bullying: Investing in Children. Read the article on the Investing in Kids website.
Making a Difference in Bullying, by Debra
Pepler and Wendy Craig. LaMarsh
Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution, 2000.
Read the article
on the LaMarsh
website.
Reena Virk: The Erasure of Race, by Yasmin
Jiwani, Ph.D. December 1997,
The FREDA Centre for Research on Violence against Women and
Children. Read the article on the FREDA
Centre website
Recommended Fiction for Girls
Cat's
Eye by Margaret Atwood, (1988).
Blubber by Judy Blume,
(1974).
Tulip Touch by Anne Fine, (1997).
The Girls by Amy Koss, (2000).
Secret Friends by Elizabeth Laird,
(1996).
My Secret Bully by Trudy Ludwig & Abigail
Marble; Illustrated by Susan Wellman,
(2004).
She Wins, You Win, by Gail Evans,
(Gotham, 2003).
Bully in Sight: How to Predict, Resist, Challenge and
Combat Workplace Bullying, by Tim Field,
(Success Unlimited, 1996).
In the Company of Women: Indirect Aggression Among Women:
Why We Hurt Each Other and How to Stop, by Pat
Heim, Susan A. Murphy and Susan K. Golant,
(Putnam, 2001).
The Bully At Work, by Gary Naimie
and Ruth Naimie, (Sourcebooks, 2000).
When
the Wrong Woman Wins: Building Bullies and Perpetuating
Patriarchy, 
by Penny Brunner, associate professor of
management at the University of North Carolina at Ashville;
and Melinda Costello, associate professor
of management and marketing at Siena College in Albany, NY.
Monday-Friday at 9 p.m. and Tuesday-Saturday at 3 a.m. ET
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