{"id":695,"date":"2015-04-30T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/annelitwin.com\/?p=695"},"modified":"2015-04-30T09:00:25","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T13:00:25","slug":"deep-patterns-from-the-middle-school-lunchroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/blog-posts\/deep-patterns-from-the-middle-school-lunchroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Patterns from the Middle School Lunchroom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<![CDATA[I began to wonder about the connection between the \u201cmean girl\u201d literature\u00a0on adolescent girls and the frequency of undermining behavior reported\u00a0between adult women in the workplace. A number of the women who\u00a0participated in my research also mentioned the similarity of the negative\u00a0dynamics between women in the workplace and the types of \u201cmean\u00a0girl\u201d behaviors described for adolescent girls. Keri, a white nurse in her\u00a0forties, explained,\n\n\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I expect them in adolescence. I don\u2019t expect them at forty-five or\u00a0fifty. Oh, I\u2019m certain that the bullies in junior high school are still\u00a0bullies today. Have you been to a high school reunion?<\/p>\n\n\nAlthough these behaviors are frequently said to be related, few studies\u00a0have been conducted to make a direct connection between adolescent\u00a0\u201cmean girl\u201d behavior and adult women\u2019s experiences with each other in\u00a0the workplace. Yet the connection seems obvious and could explain why\u00a0the negative experiences of women with each other in the workplace\u00a0are so pervasive. These behaviors probably reflect marginalized group\u00a0behavior that is ancient, deeply held, and learned at a very young age.\nA frequent question from my audiences is, \u201cBut aren\u2019t things\u00a0different now for girls than they used to be, with Title IX and access\u00a0to sports?\u201d While some situations have surely changed, and change is\u00a0always happening, two excellent studies conducted in 2002 and 2003\u00a0that covered diverse groups of girls from first grade to high school in\u00a0various parts of the country found that the messages adolescent girls\u00a0still receive have not changed in significant ways. Girls still learn from\u00a0the larger culture that how they look (being skinny and blond) is more\u00a0important than how smart or talented they are\u2014and so many girls,\u00a0including girls of color, have no hope of ever measuring up to the cultural\u00a0standard. There is still a widespread expectation among girls that they\u00a0will subordinate their own dreams and goals to please a man when they\u00a0grow up and that they will be the primary caregivers in their families.\nCheck out the magazines and websites that adolescent girls read to find\u00a0these types of messages. Girls may now expect to work once they are\u00a0parents, but they still may not expect to be the primary breadwinner\u00a0unless they have grown up in a single-parent household.\n&nbsp;\nAn excerpt from my book,\u00a0<em>New Rules for Women<\/em>, available at Amazon (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/0982056982\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/0982056982\/<\/a>).]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<![CDATA[]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[116,169,222,225,248,418,612],"class_list":["post-695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-excerpt","tag-competition","tag-emotions","tag-friendship-rules","tag-gender","tag-girls","tag-new-rules","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annelitwin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}