Elizabeth Robb
Mrs. Crawford
Advanced Health
5 May 2013

Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female Bullying

            The book, Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female Bullying by Cheryl Dellasega and Charisse Nixon, is a practical handbook designed to help eliminate bullying and other hurtful actions among  teenage girls, it is also a great parenting book for mothers, who are trying to prevent their daughters from going through bullying. The book explores the evolution of relational aggression (bullying) among girls, why it happens, the dangers of such behavior, and gives suggestions and solutions to problems girls may be facing.
            Girl Wars gives a lot of research, and details about what goes on in a girl's mind when she is bullied. It also gives the causes and effects of things that occur during bullying. I personally believe that the major reason girls bully each other, is because from a young age we are taught the idea of competition. Whether we are competitive in school or sports or how we look, this is what all of us learned to do and we constantly judge each other because of it. Though, the book doesn’t touch on the idea of competition as much as I thought it would, it is still an information and inspiring book.

 What do I mean when I say “inspiring”? Well, there are at least a hundred stories of personal encounters from girls who have been bullied. All of the stories have multiple solutions and ways to put an end to the problem before it gets really bad. Unfortunately, sometimes it does get worse because girls are afraid to tell someone that they are being bullied, and in severe cases it can result in “Bullycide”, a term used to describe suicide as the result of bullying. Bullying statistics from 2013, are reporting that there is a strong connection between bullying, being bullied, and suicide. According to a new study from the Yale School of Medicine, suicide rates are continuing to grow among adolescents, and have grown more than 50 percent in the past 30 years.

So, what is a good way to stop bullying before it gets worse? Girl Wars has many strategies, but the ones that stand out to me the most are: Get an adult involved. This might be the most crucial step to take, because a trustworthy adult can help! They can act as a positive role model and will have the ability to call attention to the issue and in some cases, if someone calls attention to the issue the bullying will start to decrease because the bully may fear getting in trouble. The next strategy is to teach the victim conflict resolution skills, and by this I mean it is better to speak up and get help rather than resort to fighting or taking matters into her own hands. Another good way to stop bullying is to offer her other outlets and opportunities. You could suggest that she can be positive and focus on all the good things she has going for her, or she can start an anti- relational aggression campaign. Though it may seem hard to be positive in situations like this, it is possible to get through them and it is important to reassure her that life can and will get better.

 In conclusion, if you’re looking for the best ways to put an end to girl bullying, Girl Wars, is the best book to read. However I wouldn't recommend this book to girls under the age of 14 or 15, because the text in this book is quite challenging. Although, I did enjoy reading about the personal experiences of other girls who went through relational aggression (bullying), as it taught me a lot about how horrific bullying can get and it gave me a new understanding of how serious this issue is and how it affects almost every girl. I would rate this book with 4 stars out of 5, and I would definitely recommend this book to mothers whose daughters have experienced bullying, and want it to never occur with their children