Girls Behaving Badly

NPR (National Public Radio) on line has an audio story (Aggression Becoming More Common in Girls by Sandy Hausman) that caused to me to wonder how effectively we are addressing girl's aggressive behavior. Here is the link to the story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18112648

For quite a while I've thought that as a society, we have glorified violence under the banner "that just who we are." Now girls are believing that being aggressive to the point of being violent is a sign of equality with boys. Moreover, Sandy Hausman reports that fights between girls are even treated differently than fights between boys in school. Hausman indicates that schools routinely suspend or expel boys, but are more lenient on girls in fighting situations.

I guess I'm wondering whether we should be sending a message to girls from pre-school onward that equality with boys does not mean behaving just as badly. In the meantime schools should treat girls in similar ways as boys for aggressive behavior to demonstrate equality.