Fighting like a girl fighting like a guy: gender identity, ideology, and girls at early adolescence

In this chapter we explore the phenomenon of "girls fighting like guys" by listening to adolescent girls' justification for physical fighting with other girls. We argue that physical girlfighting is a particular kind of gendered performance--a performance of identity that expresses, at least in part, an answer to the question, "Who am I?"--that both perpetuates and challenges the usual notions of masculinity and femininity and the differential power associated with these discourses. We present a sociocultural approach to identity that we believe not only holds promise for helping us to understand girl-fighting behavior but also highlights the clear interrelationship between social identity and personal identity. We conclude by highlighting several implications of this analysis for those who work with girls (and boys) in educational and clinical settings.