'Hey, Girl, We Both Know I'm Only Joking'; but the Slang That Some Young Women Use as a Form of Endearment Might Have an Effect on Their Self-Esteem

Conrad, Sara, The Florida Times Union

Byline: SARA CONRAD

The following story contains language that some readers might find offensive.

If you've set foot on a middle school campus in the last few years, you might have heard girls as young as 11 years old casually shouting out words like "bitch," "slut" or even "whore" to get the attention of another girl. Take a peek into their social media, and you can find more of the same in texts, tweets and Facebook and Myspace comments.

Girls have always used harsh language to insult each other, but the real surprise for many adults is that these preteen or teen girls are not necessarily offended if they receive a "Hey, slut!" in a text from a girlfriend; rather they see it as a word of endearment, akin to how one might have used the phrase "Hey, girl!" 10 years ago.

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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: 'Hey, Girl, We Both Know I'm Only Joking'; but the Slang That Some Young Women Use as a Form of Endearment Might Have an Effect on Their Self-Esteem. Contributors: Conrad, Sara - Author. Newspaper title: The Florida Times Union. Publication date: July 27, 2009. Page number: Not available. © 2007 The Florida Times-Union. COPYRIGHT 2009 Gale Group.

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