War Against Boys Essay, Research Paper

Voices, I hear voices! Are girls of adolescence age hearing voices or are their voices not being heard? What is Carol Gilligan really trying to say in her study about Pre-teen and teen-age girls? She says the study indicates that society is silencing girls in this age range. At the age of nine, girls know their sense of direction in life. Once they hit the age of 11, their confidence about their life direction begins to slide. As they progress in age it gets worse, they start questioning themselves. According to Carol Gilligan, girls lose their confidence because they live in a male patriarchal society. Her conclusions are drawn from her own twisted way of analyzing results. Gilligan doesn’t quote many facts from her own study nor does she state why there were only a few hundred females were included in her study. Why such a small number?

I agree with Hoff Sommers’ observation on Gilligans obscure conclusions in that she runs with her ideas and throws out theories that are not supported by facts. Carol Gilligan is admired by the media and her work is taken as gospel, so when the media gets a hold of her study results they are eager to focus attention on the subject matter. What a functional and cheap way to get attention for the gender feminist cause.

Gilligan threw a red flag up before doing her study on boys. Once the boy study was completed the damage was already done (even though these results was also skewed). It was very convenient how it played out for the gender feminist. I do believe we should concern ourselves with the way studies are interpreted. We do have a crisis in our schools today and for a true and comprehensive analysis, a non-biased study needs to be performed. Once the study is complete, only then will we be able to see what areas boys and girls need help with.