Sugar & Spice and No Longer Nice: How We Can Stop Girls’ Violence
By Deborah Prothrow-Stith and Howard R. Spivak (Jossey-Bass, $15.95 paper)
Girls’ violence is a fascinating topic, but reading about it is slightly dull, mostly because girls aren’t toting weapons like boys. Not yet. The authors’ sobering point is that we’d better improve parenting and change the culture and media before women begin regularly fight with more than fingernails.
1. The authors expect violent behavior in boys and girls to equalize over time in part because “movies and children’s TV programming . . . regularly portray the female superhero as violent and sexy.”
2. Society’s current approach to violence prevention ignores girls’ unique characteristics, including socialization, vulnerability, peer relationships and family position.
3. Girls don’t often use weapons, and friends play an important role in fueling the fire or putting it out.
4. “When girls do use weapons, they are more likely than boys to use knives rather than guns.”
5. In 1900, 1 in 50 juveniles arrested for all crimes was a girl. In 2003, one in three arrested for violent crimes was a girl.
