Girl violence

We have heard about a number of violent attacks lately, of gangs of girls attacking other unsuspecting girls, such as happened last week. A school girl had gone into town to do some shopping and was waiting at the bus stop for her ride home, when the cowardly attack occurred, leaving the poor girl bloodied, concussed and disorientated. She had no idea what she had supposedly done and is now too afraid to travel by bus.

But even if she had done something, nothing warrants that kind of treatment. What has happened to dialogue? Wouldn’t talking to the girl one on one, be a better option? It seems these cowardly attackers need numbers and back up and not even a reason for doing such a thing.

My own daughter was attacked once. She worked in the big mall in Manukau City in Auckland and had taken her lunch to eat on one of the seats scattered around the centre of the mall. A group of girls walking past, came up to her and started punching her around the head and upper body. She didn’t know them. When the attack was over, she made her way back to her work place. It left her mentally scarred and scared and she never ate in public in that place again. She watched her back, lost her confidence and also became too frightened to walk in that mall alone. I am sure that attack is still affecting her on some level today. Renee is a pretty girl and unfortunately, that was probably the reason she was attacked. Another unfortunate, was that she didn’t report the attack to either the police or her boss. She was so scared of recrimination if she did so. Those girls walked free and could even be the mothers or relatives of the current attackers.

What is wrong with our culture that says its okay for girls to do this kind of thing? When I was younger, even the thought of physically fighting another girl never entered my head. I remember once, a girl wanted me to step outside from the pub when my ex-husband and I were drinking there. I had no idea what I had supposedly done to offend her. It was almost comical. I guessed she was one of those woman, who, when drunk, likes to pick a fight with anyone. I can kind of understand a fight when people are drunk, and to be in a pub in the first place, these people have to be adults, but school-age girls attacking other girls is abhorrent to me.

All I can surmise is that they must be desperately unhappy themselves and perhaps have learnt that kind of behaviour from others, who also must be desperately unhappy.

I hope they are apprehended and serve jail time for their actions and at the same time, receive some kind of positive rehabilitation. Where in our society have we lost the ability to know right from wrong? Girls fighting in gangs, attacking girls on their own, is not okay.