Academic

Teenaged girls told to ?wield power over boyfriends, brothers, and friends who may be tempted to use a gun.?

By Ann Bartow

Because according to this article in the Boston Globe entitled “Girl Power,” they might be responsible for male violence. Here’s an excerpt:

Some criminal law specialists praised the effort as a unique way to combat the causes of violence and instill more confidence in women.

“Big conflagrations sometimes start with old-fashioned gossip and innuendo,” said Ronald S. Sullivan, director of the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute and a former public defender. “To the extent that students and young people can be equipped with the resources to deal with the interpersonal relationships in more productive ways, we can see some more reduced violence in the back end.”

Some (though not all, unfortunately) of the appended comments are actually pretty good, including:

Maybe that’s the key to peace in the Middle East, as well - just send a bunch of teenage girls to tell the men and boys not to be violent….

Seems to me they’re assuming that at the beginning of every fight is either a female who caused it or a female who could have stopped it and didn’t.

And:

Wow, I guess if you try hard enough, you can always find a way to make EVERYTHING the fault of the female gender somehow. This asinine program is just one more way to blame women for whatever is wrong in this society - and train ‘em young to accept that blame without question.

I feel so badly for these young women. As if they didn’t have enough on their plates already; now they’re responsible for all the ills of their community.

And:

Uh, why weren’t there any white girls present at this event? All I see in the picture are African-American and Latino girls. C’mon, we white girls cause a lot of trouble too!

–Ann Bartow

Full post as published by Feminist Law Professors on December 29, 2008 (boomark / email).