Girl Bullies

When I asked the girls on my bowling team if they could give me some help on the article I was writing about Girl Bullies, at first they thought I said "Girl Bowlers." I guess that's what I get for trying to interview social workers at a bowling alley.

All joking aside, my three bowling comrades had a lot of insight about the phenomenon of Girl Bullies. To read the article I wrote for Simon and Schuster's Tips on Life and Love, visit the S and S site here.

Here is an excerpt from the article...

Girl relationships are complicated social structures often fraught with strict (but shifting) rules, mind games, and sometimes cruelty—the perfect breeding ground for bullies.

I've been examining the phenomenon of girl bullies for my verse novel, Forget Me Not, where cyber-bullying drives a girl to attempt suicide.

I asked Laurie Bartlett, former teen counselor, along with Andy Cullen and Lynne Ortiz, school social workers, if they thought girl bullies were more common in the current generation. Lynne says there have always been girl bullies while Andy believes they are more prevalent today than ever.

Andy says it’s hard for schools (and adults in general) to always be aware when bullying is taking place because so much of it occurs over electronic media. Cyber-bullying is more accessible to kids because parents and teachers don't see it or hear it and therefore can't intervene.

A teen can be dumped by their best friend, find out a classmate has been involved in a fatal car crash, and receive three hate texts all via cell phone in the time it takes to drive home from the grocery store.

Without a word being spoken.

To read the rest of the article go to Simon and Schuster's Tips on Life and Love.