Studies have
shown that females develop at about the same rate as males, until they reach
adolescence. It is then that females’ self esteem plummets.According to psychologists, the loss of self-esteem is nothing more than
the natural process of growing up female and realizing that what was once
respected and adored is no longer tolerated or accepted. This realization
causes many young women to make dramatic changes in their self-images and
their behavior. Carol Gilligan, a Harvard researcher, has called this
process "hitting the wall," which is made of blocks containing all the
negative messages young women receive from society about their bodies, their
minds, and their worth. Through this process, they begin to recognize that
the world functions in terms of power dynamics and that it is women who do
not possess the power.
These young women soon realize that speaking up for oneself carries a
risk, often resulting in negative feedback from teachers and school
officials. Thus the resistance strategy of mouthing off to keep from being
silenced or to rebel against the perception of an unfair school setting is
really a survival technique rather than a liberating tool. Robinson and Ward
stress that this type of behavior must be adapted to truly benefit the young
woman and other young women.
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It is
their view that one must recognize the loud nature of these girls as a tool
for resistance and then teach them more effective and organized ways of
engaging in the same behavior, such as forming an advocacy group for change
within the school.
Juvenile justice practitioners
must recognize the effects of this loss of self-esteem in the young women
they serve so that they are able to develop effective treatment modalities
to encourage strength in their clients. Furthermore, it is critical for
staff to recognize the differences presented by culture and socioeconomic
background, as this will enable them to assist young women in either
developing their self-confidence through the exercise of their voices or to
learn practical ways to resist social pressures in a manner that is
liberating.
Finally, Gilligan, Taylor, and Sullivan also discovered that the strategy of
being vocally aggressive is often not employed for Latina, Portuguese, and
perhaps Asian young women. To these young women, "being a good woman centers
on maintaining loyalty to their families and adhering to cultural and
familial restrictions". Therefore, these young women often "self-silence" or
even struggle with the conflict between speaking their native language as
spoken in their homes and speaking English, which allows them to associate
with the larger society. Thus cultural disassociation may be an issue if
being a true American is seen as necessitating separation from one's home
culture in terms of dress, accent, language, and customs.
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