Page 75 - Social Norms Survey

are together again. The other group of boys also implied that girls apologise: “Dem gwaan

like seh dem nah do it again.”

All the schools studied were co-educational. The consensus from all the groups was that
girls fought each other over boys far more than vice-versa. Relationships were taken very

seriously. In one girl’s group they said fighting was most common among girls in the lower
school: “Especially at this school, grade 7, Grade 8, Grade 9, but I am in Grade 7 but me

no fight over man.” A boys’ group adds that girls also “fight bout clothes and dem sumtin
deh.” Fights among girls were said to be very frequent, several times a week.

Social media plays a part in this. The girls were asked directly

“Do girls take part in matey wars on social media?” All three
female student groups strongly affirmed this. It revolved

around pictures taken with a boy which could lead to a confrontation when another
girl claimed that this was her “man” and she was his “wifey.” “Miss, like you tek a picture

of yourself and your boyfriend and if him ina tings, like you say ‘My forever baby’ then
another girl react to it [with a comment, or a picture of her and the boy, or a frightening

emoji]. That’s how you find out the two a unno a become matey and then you start sey
sum ting.” They said girls did this from their age of 13 up into their 20s.
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The boys are reported to fight less over relationships. They are apparently very confident in

their ability to attract girls. However when they do fight it can be serious. One girls’ group
spoke of two incidents, one in which a boy was stabbed

and almost got his lungs punctured. In the other instance,
the boy was fatally shot outside the school premises

because “he did dey with the Don girl.” A number of
students have witnessed school stabbings.

In relation to boys using social media to fight with each other over relationships, one group

of boys dismissed this but the other group said a few do it. To win the girls, some put up
fake pictures of laptops and money that they claim they have.

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43 The 2017 Women’s Safety and Security Study findings confirm that young women engage in this and that it can lead
to physical fights, often with a large audience since the lead-up is all displayed on Facebook.
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