Resumo

MEJIA-HERNANDEZ, Juana María  e  WEISS, Eduardo. Violence among Girls in Secondary School. RMIE [online]. 2011, vol.16, n.49, pp.545-570. ISSN 1405-6666.

The article addresses the topic of violence among adolescent girls, from a psycho-cultural perspective. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork completed in four public schools in southern Mexico City, throughout one school year. The girls' most important relational practices are friendship and companionship, yet they also fight as friends and classmates, sometimes about boys. Violence is observed in symbolic forms as insults, contemptuous attitudes, and gossip, and in physical forms as well, usually considered masculine, such as fist-fighting and previously arranged fights. Based on the observations, containing and regulating violence are discussed, in addition to the topic of construction of the female adolescent identity.

Palavras-chave : adolescents; school violence; females; identity; Mexico.