Patriarchy matters: toward a gendered theory of teen violence and victimization

Abstract

This article explores the role that the sex-gender system plays in shaping both the violence and victimization of girls. Taking first the issue of girls' violence, the article argues that steep increases in girls' arrests are not the product of girls becoming more like boys. Instead, forms of girls' minor violence that were once ignored are now being criminalized. Shifting gears, the article explores how "gender-neutral" relabeling of girls' victimization in schools, a site of much violence against girls, is extremely problematic. Renaming "sexual harassment" as "bullying" tends to psychopathologize gender violence while simultaneously stripping girl victims of powerful legal rights and remedies. To illustrate this latter point, a "model" antibullying program, The Bullying Prevention Program, is reviewed. Offering a one-size-fits-all view of bullying, it assumes all bullying can be approached psychologically or relationally, thereby minimizing the structural underpinnings of such behavior.