Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls

Friday, May 20, 2005
With Rachel Simmons, Ph.D.

Location: Freeport -

Harraseeket Inn 162 Main Street Freeport, Maine

Program Description: Dr. Simmons will speak for the morning session about schoolgirl cruelty. She treats the subject in a thorough and illuminating manner. She contends that incidents of bullying could be avoided if girls were encouraged to acknowledge their aggression. She believes this would empower them to negotiate conflicts and to define relationships in "new and healthier ways". She will talk about how parents should show their daughters that conflict free relationships don't exist. Instead of thinking conflict ends relationships, girls can learn that they can't survive without it and would not let fear control them. She believes our task now is to give every girl, every parent, and every teacher a shared public language to address girls' conflicts and relationships.

Dr. Simmons will be available for a book signing before leaving at 1:00pm.

The afternoon session will consist of a multi-disciplinary panel of Maine professionals who will lead discussion regarding issues related to female aggression in our schools and communities.

About the Speaker: Rachel Simmons, PhD, is the author of the best seller, Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls as well as Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write about Bullies, Cliques, Popularity ad Jealousy. She has been featured on Oprah, Today, Dateline and NPR. Dr. Simmons is currently the Director of Sidwell Friends Girls' Leadership Institute in New York, and a consultant to schools all over the country.

Educational Objectives: Participants will gain increased understanding of:

1. the three types of psychological aggression
2. the root causes of female aggression
3. the focus of girls‚ social power and structure of social conflict
   between girls
4. preventative and acute strategetic interventions for girl