Annual of social work, Vol. 13 No. 2, 2006.
Professional paper
PEER VIOLENCE AMONG GIRLS
Iva Prpić
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to extend the understanding of peer violence exclusively among girls, the relational aggression and special methods used by girls. Although there is a generally accepted scientific theory about the differences in the socialisation and development between boys and girls, violence among the children is still uniformly regarded through the dimension of physical violence primarily committed by boys.
The paper provides general definitions of the violence among the children, characteristics of that violence and special features of bullies and victims.
After the general part, the paper focuses on peer violence among girls, attempting to explain why such violence has never been in the focus of the research interest. Special attention is paid to the relational aggression through which others are harmed “by injury” (or the threat of an injury) of the connection or the feeling of acceptance, friendship or inclusion in a group. The messages that society sends to girls are listed, as well as the list of characteristics possessed by every “ideal girl” i.e. “anti-girl”. The paper analyses special methods that girls use against each other, explaining the concept of cyberbullying as a new form of violence among the children, especially among girls. Furthermore, the paper analyses two research projects about the violence among the children in the contemporary Croatian practice (The Polyclinic for the protection of children of the city of Zagreb and UNICEF). The paper treats those research projects from the aspect of violence among girls and presents the differences in committing violence between genders. In the final part of the paper, the documents of the Republic of Croatia in the fight against peer violence are discussed, namely The protocol of activities to prevent violence among the children and young persons and the Protocol for action in case of violence among the children and young persons. Through the analysis of the documents, the paper attempts to point out to the lack of differentiation of a special type of violence committed exclusively by girls.
Keywords
peer violence among the children; peer violence among girls; cyberbullying; instruments of the Republic of Croatia in the fight against peer violence
Hrčak ID:
7708
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2006.
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