Odd Girl Out: A Case Study
Odd Girl Out:
The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls
Case Study
Konnie Sanders Daglis
MSMC
Dr. Linda Johnston
September 17, 2006
Odd Girl Out 1
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls (OGO)
Case Study Consider a world where girls are not given a language or a manner to articulate their aggression, even the slightest feelings of aggression. In that world, petty issues erupt into all out wars of subtle, wars of sly, and covert actions. In OGO, author Rachel Simmons examines and reveals this secret world to us, along with its participants and their issues. Based on her writing, I concluded that Ms. Simmons’ social learning style has two definitive faces. It is most obviously supported by the physiological school of thought. For example, she believes girls will do anything to be a part of the group, “to avoid rejection, they must enter whitewashed relationships, eschewing open conflict and becoming shackled to cultural rules that deny their freedom to know the truth of themselves, their bodies and their feelings” (268) Ms. Simmons describes the girl’s group think as one where “fear of solitude is overpowering. In fact, what victims of bullying recalled most to me was their loneliness.” (32) Moreover, she believes that what is learned can be unlearned, “We might work harder to prohibit girls from engaging in alternative aggressions and instead guide them into more assertive acts of truth telling and direct aggression.” (269) Her second style supports the learning school of thought; she believes the behavior exhibited by the girls is not of natural, but a learned behavior, “the rite-of-passage theory suggests several disturbing assumptions about girls. First, it implies that there is nothing we can do to prevent girls from behaving in these ways because it’s in the developmental tea leaves to do it. “(??) I gather from her phrasing
The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls
Case Study
Konnie Sanders Daglis
MSMC
Dr. Linda Johnston
September 17, 2006
Odd Girl Out 1
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls (OGO)
Case Study Consider a world where girls are not given a language or a manner to articulate their aggression, even the slightest feelings of aggression. In that world, petty issues erupt into all out wars of subtle, wars of sly, and covert actions. In OGO, author Rachel Simmons examines and reveals this secret world to us, along with its participants and their issues. Based on her writing, I concluded that Ms. Simmons’ social learning style has two definitive faces. It is most obviously supported by the physiological school of thought. For example, she believes girls will do anything to be a part of the group, “to avoid rejection, they must enter whitewashed relationships, eschewing open conflict and becoming shackled to cultural rules that deny their freedom to know the truth of themselves, their bodies and their feelings” (268) Ms. Simmons describes the girl’s group think as one where “fear of solitude is overpowering. In fact, what victims of bullying recalled most to me was their loneliness.” (32) Moreover, she believes that what is learned can be unlearned, “We might work harder to prohibit girls from engaging in alternative aggressions and instead guide them into more assertive acts of truth telling and direct aggression.” (269) Her second style supports the learning school of thought; she believes the behavior exhibited by the girls is not of natural, but a learned behavior, “the rite-of-passage theory suggests several disturbing assumptions about girls. First, it implies that there is nothing we can do to prevent girls from behaving in these ways because it’s in the developmental tea leaves to do it. “(??) I gather from her phrasing