The article discusses the social dynamics among girls and animals, focusing on how girls often ostracize peers to maintain relationships with leaders in their groups. The author reflects on their daughters' experiences with exclusion and compares these scenarios to the behavior of a horse. The transformation of the horse from an outcast to an enforcer within its new herd serves as a metaphor for similar social behavior in humans, prompting reflection on whether meanness is innate or learned.
It's easy to think of this as just 'girl drama,' but is it really? I found myself wondering: is meanness learned, or is it wired into us?
My daughters, now safely back in favor, never hesitated to play along, inflicting the same pain they had so recently endured—all in an effort to stay in the leader's good graces.
Watching my mare transform from outcast to enforcer was a poignant reminder of how social dynamics can shift drastically in both humans and animals.
The heartbreak of exclusion my daughters faced was mirrored in my mare's initial rejection, prompting reflection on the nature of meanness in social hierarchies.
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