Girls Aren’t Meaner Than Boys. It Only Looks That Way

Girls can be mean. Really mean. Yet despite their widespread reputation for cruelty, we have little evidence that girls are meaner than boys. It’s no surprise to learn that boys are more likely than girls to use physical aggression, but we also know that boys surpass girls when it comes to attacking peers verbally and engaging in cyberbullying. Some research suggests that girls pick up the slack by engaging in more relational aggression: being emotionally manipulative, spreading rumors, excluding peers. But other studies find that boys can outpace, or at least match, girls in the use of indirect forms of interpersonal treachery.