Introduction
Nine students at South Hadley Mass High School, among them seven girls, are suspected to have tormented a girl to commit suicide. If proven guilty, the seven girls are to face legal action. This case has brought to light the plight of teenagers who are bullied by “mean girls.” Similar cases in the past have brought more confusion among adults, with most failing to comprehend these happenings . This is a summary of the New York Times’s article ‘the myth of mean girls.’
Alarm has been raised on teen violence, cyberspace wars and problems associated with teen dating. Crime authorities index prove otherwise: over the past four years, murders and robbery associated with teen girls have been on a steep decline . The FBI report indicated that these crimes have dropped by 32% between 1995 and 2008. The National Center of Health Statistics reports a decline of murders from 598 in the year 1990 to 376 in 2006.
Surveys also prove that girls have also resolved to more safety measure with a large number of girls likely to report incidences of bullying, harassment, and violence than in the past years were left unreported . Between 1981 and 1995, arrests resulting from assaults were on a steady rise. These arrests have since then dropped steadily.
The rise in violence among girls, is therefore true 15 to 25 years back, and not presently. This rise is also attributed to changes of laws and policies which allowed for arrests based on harassment . Violence towards girls is also from younger women and middle aged men. This is contrary to the notion that this violence is inflicted by teenage mean girls. This notion has been reinforced by the media, and created a wave of fear among the public that the youth are under crisis, based on a few isolated cases. Crime reports and national survey prove otherwise.
Works Cited
Males, Mike and Media-Chesney Lind. The New York Times: The Myth Of Mean Girls. New York: The New York Times, 2010.
