"To the Editor: ¶ I am a public defender in Massachusetts
who has represented juveniles, many of them teenage girls. 'The
Myth of Mean Girls,' by Mike Males and Meda-Chesney Lind (Op-Ed,
April 2), misses the point. Physical violence is only one manifestation
of mean-girl bullying. Mean girls use verbal abuse, intimidation
and exclusion, and it's most viciously directed at girls who are
liked by popular boys, as we've seen in the recent tragedy in South
Hadley, Mass. ¶ While it's wonderful news that girls' arrest
rates for violent offenses are down, that statistic doesn't begin
to measure the terrible damage being done to girls by, yes, 'mean
girls.' Mara Dolan, Concord, Mass,. April 2, 2010" (Editorials/Letters,
"How to Stop Bullying in the Schools," The New York
Times, April 3, 2010) (Source: taxi1010.com stargate43)
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