Whyalla school violence reveals new social issues, UniSA expert says

Brutal video of a Whyalla schoolgirl attack this week sparked a shocked outcry. But what’s really to blame and can it be fixed?

There’s a growing acceptance of physical aggression among schoolgirls fuelled by social media and changing societal attitudes, according to an Adelaide academic that has studied aggression, girls’ bullying and cyber-bullying for several decades.

UniSA Adjunct Professor of Education and Social Development Barbara Spears, responding to the emergence during the week of a shocking video showing a SA schoolgirl being violently bashed by a fellow female student, says there have always been aggressive girls.

Associate Professor Barbara Spears.

The incident in regional Whyalla, which resulted in the arrest of a 15-year-old girl, comes just months after a video was circulated showing a wild brawl between teenage girls in Adelaide’s CBD, that resulted in assault charges for two 15-year-olds.

Prof Spears believes it is time for all kids – boys and girls – to be taught to better manage conflict.

“What we have seen is a shift in the mores of society in terms of what is OK for girls and what’s not … (previously) it was never OK for a girl to be physically aggressive but we’ve seen a shift in that over the years,” Prof Spears said.

“As gender equity has grown, we’ve told girls and young women they can be whoever they want to be – they can assert themselves and stand up.”

However, Prof Spears says the line between assertiveness and aggression has become blurred.

“The beating ups, the stabbings speak to social mores that have allowed that to be deemed to be OK,” she said.

“Now that we have social media, vision (of fights) goes straight online without those involved actually trying to manage the relationship and conflict – and that is problematic.

“We really need to be helping young people, not just girls, deal with conflict in the offline world … they need to learn the skills to manage conflict instead of moving straight into a highly aggressive, highly physical space.”

US-based child and adolescent family therapist Darby Fox warns issues of violence and teenagers needs addressing.

She worries, too, that many kids are more interested in videoing conflict to share on social media than breaking it up, or seeking help.

“About a month ago two high school girls (here) fought on the school grounds until one eventually stabbed the other to death as kids watched,” she said.

“If you, as a parent, learn after the fact of kids watching or filming a fight, you need to take it as an opportunity to discuss the ramifications with your children … point out to your kids, it’s actually quite sad not exciting.

“So much of their life is focused on social media and ‘likes’ the first thought is, ‘let me video this’, not ‘I need to help stop this’.”