David Bell also pointed to results of attitude surveys. They show that girls see boys as more active, athletic, aggressive - more able to travel and have a better career. Boys see girls in negative terms as passive, weak and restricted.
What outcry did this lead to? What condemnations of workplace inequality were heard? What determination to act to improve girls' images was expressed? Not a lot ...
Bell also said that girls need stronger role models, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And that's what headline writers picked up on. Meanwhile, columnists and opinion-formers generated many thousands of words pontificating about the use of the word "girls". Bonnie Greer in The Times said it was like a racist jibe. Ann Widdecombe told the Today programme she thought it was okay. A children's writer told Independent readers how he renamed the title of a book when boys told him they wouldn't read one called Girlie.
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