Are little girls capable of being catty?

[Alvira]

Mothers, is it possible for little girls to be so nasty that their behaviour translates into an adult woman's version of female competitiveness? The girls in my daughter's school are very competitive over how they look, who they play with and not letting other girls join in who 'don't fit in'. My daughter goes to a private school? Does this make a difference do you think? Are children of middle class families more competitive? I can't understand why i seem to be the only Mum who's telling her daughter to be nice and kind to everyone at school while the other children do as they please

Why does a trend in females doing things a certain way come bound up in a lot of negative language such as catty or manipulative or emotional bullies.. ?!?! And yet boys, who are far more likely to have a punch up are not, for instance, called violent?

Is it just another societal trend where female traits are seen as somehow lesser than the "purer" and "nobler" male ways of going about things? Or is it just that people have been on the receiving end of other girls because bullies more often go in for same-sex bullying and this site is majority female and so that's been the experience?

I am not excusing boys from being bullies, far from it, they can can be just as bad, dont i know it. When i was a little girl i used to have bad Eczema it was all over my body, it was the boys who were name calling and it hurt, and chasing me (in a bad way). However as i moved to senior school (in a different area and all girls) I could see a different type of behaviour, though i had a few good friends that i have now to this day, they were not the most popular girls far from it, they were the ones deemed to be odd by the other more popular girls. They used to form cliques, and gossip, and wisper to each other when another less popular girl went past. Instead of say to your face, they would bitch, and they be all nice to you to your face. I would have rather they be up front and honest.

Its just that males and females operate in different ways, i can list a whole lot of negtive qualities for men.

alvira MN is in a paranoid histrionic state about journalists at mo

they are the perceived enemy dont you know

lurking and waiting to swop and cut and paste

he he yes scottishmummy, anyone of us can be one, you just have to have a certain opinion and bang you are seen as a journo

Yes they are.

CommonNortherner - yes I agree. In my observation, girls can be very catty but boys can equally nasty in other usually more physical ways. Boys can also be quite mean by forming little gangs that exclude others or refuse to allow others to play or refuse to allow certain boys to play on their team in playground football.

So all this whiny whingey boy behaviour that I witness every day: 'mrs X, A did so and so', 'if you let him play I won't play', 'you must do as I say because it's my ball'- is it simply not happening? Am I deluded? Having hallucinations?