Abstract
The phenomenon of devaluing of self for adolescent girls has been highlighted in previous qualitative research in a US cultural context. Carol Gilligan and her colleagues have documented a loss of connection to self and loss of voice. ‘Blending in’ pertains to such a loss of connection and voice. ‘Blending in’ emerges from many aspects of 8 Irish females’ retrospective qualitative phenomenological accounts of their adolescent experiences. These features of blending in include: a dumbing down of intellectual ability in order to fit in, a desire to be hidden in the group to ‘fade into the background’, to not stand out as being different, fear of being labelled by others and fear of challenging others. Blending in gives phenomenological support to Gilligan’s (1990) accounts of silencing and loss of relation to self in adolescent girls, to a rendering of self as other. This phenomenological exploration is resonant also with de Beauvoir’s Second Sex and to a loss of capacity for introversion in Western culture, echoing Jung (1921). Blending in requires firmer addressing in social and emotional education (SEE), especially regarding challenge to self-management as emotional impulse and behaviour regulation. Self-management as blending in risks being a process of loss of voice and alienation of self.
Highlights
The phenomenon of devaluing of self for adolescent girls has been highlighted in previous qualitative research in a US cultural context
Brown and Gilligan (1992) observe, 'For girls, adolescence is a time of particular vulnerability; a point where a girl is encouraged to give over or to disregard or devalue what she feels and thinks- what she knows about the world of relationships- if she is to enter the dominant views of conventional womanhood.' (p. 83)
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a silencing process or loss of voice has taken place for these females during their experience of adolescence and to address its implications for social and emotional education (SEE), with regard to self-management aspects
Summary
The phenomenon of devaluing of self for adolescent girls has been highlighted in previous qualitative research in a US cultural context. Creighton & Downes includes a range of holistic approaches emphasising awareness of emotions, caring, empathy and concern for others, positive relationships, making responsible decisions, impulse control, resolving conflict constructively and valuing the thoughts, feelings and voices of students (see Weissberg et al, 2015; Brackett et al, 2015; Downes, Nairz-Wirth, & Rusinaite, 2017) At times, this is viewed as including selfregulatory skills which are to equip students with more positive views towards their futures and empower them to manage their social behaviour (Bandura, 2006). The question arises as to whether there is a need to interrogate such findings of positive social behaviour as being through a process of conformity and loss of voice and self
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