Discussing Violence: Let’s hear it for the Girls

This article presents some key findings from an exploratory study of teenage girls’ views and experiences of violence, carried out in Scotland. Using data gathered from self-report questionnaires, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, it conveys girls ’ perceptions of violence and discusses the nature and extent of the many forms of violence in girls ’ lives. In particular, the article flags up the pervasiveness of verbal conflicts within girls ’ lives and outlines the characteristics of those girls who describe themselves as violent. It concludes with a brief discussion of practice and policy implications. Background Reducing youth crime is a major part of the current Government’s strategy to tackle social exclusion. Primarily concern has focused on the offending behaviour of young men rather than young women because of the relatively small proportion of female offenders. However, there has been a growing public view, fuelled by the media, that girls are becoming more ‘criminally minded ’ and, in particular, more violent. In recent years, stories about the growing problem of female violence – particularly girl gangs roaming the streets and randomly attacking innocent victims – have been a recurring feature of the pages of our newspapers (see, for example, Carroll, 1998; Kibby, 1999