Are the girls in girls' schools very bitchy?

[PhilomenaButterfly]

DD's 1st choice for secondary's a girls' school, but my friend tells me that the girls can be really bitchy, and it might be better if she went to a mixed school.

What are your experiences?

[Moonflower12]

I went to an all girls school. As pp has said, the freedom without boys was lovely. Some bitchiness but not any more than I've witnessed working in a mixed secondary.
I sent both my daughters to a girls school. Both decided to do a mixed sixth form. They couldn't believe how immature the boys were!
There is research that suggests girls do a lot better in a single sex school.

[SleepingStandingUp]

I don't know any grown women who went to girls schools who think that men are "other" or who struggle with the idea of male friends. I think there must have been some hardcore indoctrination at these schools.

[SleepingStandingUp]

I don't know any grown women who went to girls schools who think that men are "other" or who struggle with the idea of male friends. I think there must have been some hardcore indoctrination at these schools.

[silkpyjamasallday]

I was very unhappy at my all girls secondary/sixth form, but that was more to do with the enormous pressure to 'succeed', coupled with the fact my years cohort was particularly cliquey and bitchy, but the years above and below were not at all. It's luck of the draw and I doubt single sex affects this. I did get great grades though, as did all of my peers, which is what our parents were paying for. My school was twinned with a boys school nearby so there was opportunity for mixing with the opposite sex, I have mostly male friends now and very few female.

[Rudi44]

Oh and lest we forget, boys can be bloody awful bitches too. I was bullied awfully at my mixed comp by boys and girls :-(

[chardonm]

Ugh I hate all the stereotypes on this thread. All the "hormones" flying around, the "bitchiness"... how about that girls are all individuals with different personalities?

[NothingOnTellyAgain]

Cos boys aren't hormonal at secondary school...

[ErrolTheDragon]

I'd not noticed any mention of hormones if there was, hardly a major theme.

[Theworldisfullofgs]

I went to an all girls school (aeons ago) and it was less bitchy than my children's mixed sex school.
I

[EdWinchester]

I went to an all girls' school. Had a marvellous time and made life-long friends. Have nothing but fond memories.

[mammmamia]

“I have noticed that even as an adult, you can always tell who went to an all girls school. There is something different about the way they act around other women. Almost competitive. It’s even more heightened when a man is in the frame. None of my grown up all girls school friends have male friends and question why I and other friends do, as if there is always an alterior motive when a man is involved.”

This is the most bizarre thing I’ve read on MN and frankly insulting to those of us who went to all girls schools and do not recognise this behaviour in the slightest.

[PettsWoodParadise]

DD is in Y9 at an all girls school and loves it. The girls are supportive of each other. They find it easier to discuss things like periods (anyone got s sanitary towel gets shouted across the form room and one gets passed to the girl in need) .

A friend who has a DD in a co-ed says she found the girls bitchy there to the extent she has moved her DD. The boys laughed and teased the girls if they were developing a large bosom or there were any menstruation incidents to the extent her DD now has a real mental problem and anxiety when Aunt Flo calls.

I don’t necessarily think it is fully a girls school or a co-ed issue - it is the ethos and character of the school.

[KERALA1]

TBH I am envious of dds experience her time at her all gir

[KERALA1]

Oops pressed post too soon - dd having way happier time than I did at my mixed comp would have much preferred girls school for myself

[LusaCole]

I went to an all girls school and it was a positive experience for me. Bitchiness was minimal. As an adult, I interact easily with men and have lots of male friends. (I do have a brother, if that makes a difference.)

I studied STEM subjects at A Level, with no idea this was relatively unusual for a girl, and this has led to a great career for me. Research has shown that girls at single sex schools are much more likely to study STEM subjects than their peers at mixed schools:
www.monash.edu/news/articles/girls-at-single-sex-schools-up-to-85-more-likely-to-take-advanced-stem-subjects-than-co-ed-girls
www.ifs.org.uk/publications/13276

[P3onyPenny]

My dd's all girl school isn't bitchy at all. Her co-ed primary and the co-eds her friends go to however seemed/seem to be the exact opposite. It has really surprised me.

The girls are very supportive of each other and the staff seem to know how to handle girls well.

[P3onyPenny]

Just to add her brothers are at the all boys school. They have several friends who go to the all girls. They meet for shopping,coffee and join up on computer games etc so I wouldn't pay any heed to that post further down.

[RitaFairclough]

I went to an all-girls school and was much happier there than I would have been in mixed. I’m 45 now and the people who have been most horrible to me my whole life have always been male.

My son just started secondary school so I have visited a lot in the last couple of years. I was genuinely surprised to see more conforming to gender stereotypes in the mixed schools. One where girls could play rugby if they wanted but none did, another where no boys did dance despite there being amazing dance facilities. I had assumed it would be the other way round until I went to open days.

[merlotmummy14]

Not much experience on this front but have heard that girls perform better in a single sex classroom. There are a lot of interesting studies out there that found when girls answer teacher's question 50% of the time (an equal amount with boys) all participants feel girls are favoured by the teacher for answering questions even though they're not. It drops to girls answering questions around 20-30% of the time for all participants to feel it's equal.

[Flaminghotcocoa]

There are nasty girls everywhere. My friend’s daughter was bullied out of her co-Ed school by two girls.

My dd is at an all girls school, she had a rough time in year 8 with friendships (year 9 is notoriously the worst for fallings out etc - at all schools, I’m sure it has nothing to do with co-including hormones rising at all...) now she has a fantastic friendship group, no bitchiness at all, they all love each other to bits. I also think that there is a good positive feminist vibe at the girls school. For example, as another poster said, it wouldn’t occur to them not to do a subject, aim for a career as it was deemed to be a boys’ one.

[Floottoot]

I should have added in my previous post that my DS is at a co-ed school but you'd think he was at single sex because he never, ever mentions the girls, except to refer to them as "the try hards".
Says it all.

[bevelino]

OP, I think bitchy behaviour happens in most schools. I have 4 dds and year 9 was definitely the bitch year for them.

[sayyatiddaknini]

I've got 3 at an all girls school. They go there because it is one of the best state schools in the country and we happen to live really near it. If it had been coed with the same reputation they would have gone there.

It's a big school with an even bigger reputation so they run a pretty tight ship and I think that contributes to the behaviour. As a pp said, it too has got a positive feminist vibe and they have football and rugby teams.

So far (got one in the 6th form) we haven't encountered any bitchiness. The only stories of bitchiness that I have heard about over the years have come from parents who don't have DD there.

[peachypetite]

The bitchiest girls I know went to a mixed school.

[ErrolTheDragon]

he never, ever mentions the girls, except to refer to them as "the try hards".

Do you ever ask him what he means by that? Is it the old boys don't like being beaten by girls thing, and if it happens must be because they're swots not clever?