Bullying among girls: Relational frames of the construction of gender identities

Abstract

Conducted in two lower secondary schools (for children aged approximately 11 to 14 years) in São Paulo and Salvador cities, this ethnographic study analyzes how adolescent girls negotiate gender identities in the relational frames of bullying. As a process of social control, bullying is based on difference games that lead to the learning of gender norms. Discussing bullying as gender violence shows how girls manipulate traditional female categorizations and attributes to promote social distinctions and power inequality between them. Power and status disputes not only contribute to the social ordering of the group by regulating sexuality and stereotyped behaviors of feminine delicacy and care, but also make it possible to claim egalitarian values and practices.