The phenomenon of bullying is, more and more frequently, the focus of public attention. Daily, web pages, social interfaces, and news reports are flooded with narratives recounting episodes of severe prevarication, with (sometimes) extreme outcomes, configurable as real crimes (Calandri & Begotti, 2017). However, if bullying in its neutral-male connotation is fairly well known, it still shows many gray areas when it is female. In a particular way, manifestations of bullying between girls are less investigated and, therefore, are poorly reflected upon and, consequently, more difficult to recognize. Although empirical evidence shows specificities starting with gender and signifying diversity, a gendered and intersectional analytical look is still almost entirely lacking (De Vita, Vittori & Burgio, 2023).

From this awareness, the need emerged to launch an exploratory survey in Italy to define the national research project Women's Bullying at School. An intersectional mixed-method survey, in which the University of Foggia - the writers' home site - also took part.

In light of the data that emerged, and starting from the significance of the stories shared by the girls participating in the focus groups conducted, it was decided here to focus on the role that adults (parents and teachers in particular) play and can play in the face of bullying. A role both negative, when they are perceived as "ineffective," but also positive when they become "central" and supportive in recognizing the phenomenon and promoting strategies to prevent and counter it. An attempt will be made to propose, on the basis of the analyses conducted - in the face of the paucity of scientific literature on the subject, in contrast, on the other hand, to the ever-increasing prevalence of the phenomenon (Burgio, 2018) - guidelines for recognizing, managing and countering the phenomenon, aimed at both teachers and parents.

Bullying is a complex phenomenon, relational in nature, which particularly affects subjects of developmental age. It takes shape of acts of prevarication acted out by some subjects against one of their peers who, due to specific personal characteristics (physical, character, behavioural, etc.) deviates from the ideal type of normality commonly shared by the social microsystem within which they grew up and live (Burgio, 2018). The normative nature of bullying phenomena, in fact, makes the personal specificities possessed (when they differ from the culturally shared model of normality) as trigger factors for bullying. Moreover, as a purely relational phenomenon, the school is a privileged theatre for its manifestation (Batini & Scierri, 2021; Patrizi & Biasi, 2017).

Given the importance of meaningful relationships in the delicate process of identity construction (Lopez, 2018), which constitutes one of the main developmental tasks of adolescence (Siegel, 2014; 2021), bullying experiences indelibly mark the social, relational and psychological development of those who experience it. In addition to this, and precisely because they affect and beat the identity formation of those who suffer from it, bullying experiences are particularly difficult to cope with. The resulting experiences of disorientation, insecurity, and inadequacy seem to cause significant difficulties in the elaboration of resilient and effective coping strategies (Dimitri, Perdoni & Donghi, 2018).

Although there are numerous epistemological and interpretive categories aimed at identifying it (such as the relational asymmetry between the bully and the victim and the repetitiveness and intentionality of the aggressive and/or violent acts performed) and at identifying the typical modalities through which it manifests itself (direct, indirect, relational) (Olweus, 1993) these seem to fail to describe it exhaustively. In fact, the variables involved in its manifestation are numerous and are deeply affected by the specificities of the socio-cultural and relational context within which they take place.

The national research conducted in Italy "Female bullying at school. An intersectional mixed-method investigation" (Batini, Scierri & Vittori, 2023; De Vita & Burgio, 2023) aimed to explore the phenomenon of bullying through the interpretive lenses proper to gender studies. Such a perspective has allowed attention to be paid to the particular processes and dynamics that characterise the phenomenon of female bullying (Burgio, 2018; De Vita, 2021; De Vita & Vittori, 2022; 2023), starting from the assumption that the cultural conditioning that influences its initiation, manifestation and experiences changes according to the gender of those who experience it, as perpetrators, victims or bystanders.

This contribution aims to highlight, specifically, the coping strategies to the phenomena of bullying proposed and elaborated by the female students participating in the focus groups carried out, as part of the above-mentioned research, in the Foggia area. The main problematic issues that emerged from the hermeneutic analysis of the recorded narratives will be analyzed, in order to draw inspiration from them to design possible educational strategies of prevention, contrast and pedagogical intervention.

The phenomenon of female bullying (i.e., girls bullying girls) remains a relevant and ever-present problem in our society. Despite growing societal concern, academic scholarship remains scarce both on an international scale and in Italy especially. The bullying in question is difficult to identify by peers, teachers, and families and is, therefore, not fully understood. It is a complex phenomenon characterized by diverse elements that define aggressive relationships between girls. These relationships result of complex and transversal dynamics (De Vita, 2009). In addition, female bullies do not generally exhibit the same behavioral difficulties found in aggressive adolescent males; on the contrary, these ‘mean girls’ intimately understand the dynamics at play, using aggression to increase their status among their peers. This awareness can be a tool strategically used toward goals of acceptance or exclusion. Such intra-gender relations are backed by the literature, focusing on script theory , in which the criteria seem to define “the right way” to be a girl. Bullies and peer groups share the conformity to this conception. In essence, the phenomenon of bullying between girls seems charged with heteronormativity, which, in a sort of paradoxical self-fulfillment, underlines gender asymmetry (Burgio, 2018). Importantly, when deploying their aggression, the bullies exploit spaces invisible to adults, such as changing rooms, school cafetarias, gym, and social media. There, the phenomenon continues as cyberbullying..

The paper aims to discuss the methodological challenges posed by research on female bullying during the pandemic crisis, highlighting how the integration of creative, digital, and visual methods has shaped the outcomes of the analysis (Kara 2015). Additionally, it seeks to explore the impact and level of adherence to the emancipatory goals of the research by identifying the response mechanisms of the participating girls to these methods and techniques.

The contribution focuses on the recruitment, implementation, and analysis strategies of online focus groups conducted with female students aged 14 to 16 in the Milan area between April 2021 and May 2022. Specifically, the paper will present the strategies employed to engage this age group, particularly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic experience and distance education (Shoshan, Wehrt 2022). Furthermore, it will discuss whether and how virtual spaces can become open narrative contexts, perceived as private and safe spaces, and how this may facilitate the emergence of experiences, perceptions, representations, and emotions, crucial for exploring complex issues such as enacted and/or experienced bullying.

The exploration of the manifestations and dynamics, that characterise the forms of prevarication acted out in school contexts involving girls, appears particularly relevant today in light of the processes of social change that have favoured the recognition of growing spaces of autonomy and agency for girls and the persistent social structures that generate inequalities and perpetuate forms of female oppression (Farina 2018). While violence among adolescents is based on group processes and dynamics oriented towards the definition of status and specific forms of recognition dictated by peer culture (De Vita & Burgio 2023; Baraldi & Iervese 2003), it reflects broader meanings, forms of discrimination and power structures operating at a societal level. The analysis of the experience of bullying by girls, both in the role of those who act out the violence and those who suffer it, must be framed in a theoretical framework that explicitly thematises the gender dimension (De Vita & Burgio 2023), considering the mechanisms that reproduce violence within relations of female subordination and the construction of different hierarchical forms of femininity that reflect stereotypes and social stratifications (class, ethnicity).

Starting from these considerations, the contribution focuses on representations of female bullying and forms of prevarication observed in school context, by female secondary school students. The data were collected as part of a multi-year (2020-2023) action-research project carried out in the Marche region, coordinated by the University of Urbino. The project made use of a variety of methods and approaches including participatory research and the use of creative methods (drawing and social theatre). In this context, the results of the questionnaires, focus groups and drawing analysis will be presented. Starting from a perspective that considers children and young people as competent social actors (James, Jenks and Prout, 2002), the quantitative and qualitative surveys were constructed with the aim of bringing out the definitions and representations of bullying experienced and observed by the students.

The quantitative data show that bullying incidents affect both boys and girls equally. Furthermore, no greater experiences of victimisation emerge for girls than for their male peers. On the other hand, the greater involvement of girls in episodes of verbal abuse and exclusion from the peer group is confirmed. The analysis of the drawings returned a representation of bullying that, in quantitative terms, confirms the prevalence of male involvement, especially in the role of bully, but at the same time highlights a complex phenomenology of female bullying, which sees girls as agents of verbal and physical violence, aimed at both female and male victims. The reflections that emerged in the focus groups underline a perceived difference in the dynamics and motivations of male and female bullying. While the former is inscribed in typical male forms of sociability, female bullying is traced back to the competition around the definition of specific representations of femininity.

Results support the need to consider more carefully the specificity and complexity of the forms of prevarication involving girls both in theoretical reflection and in interventions to prevent and combat bullying.

This essay focuses on the Third Phase of the national research project on female bullying, titled: “Female bullying at school. A mixed-method intersectional investigation” (De Vita & Burgio, 2023; Batini et al., 2023). The main objective of this contribution is to showcase the results obtained through the research training and co-design process carried out in Verona between 2022 and 2023 together with two different school communities. More specifically, this task involved female students selected from two high schools located in Verona. This target group had previously participated in the First Phase of the research project developed during the academic year 2020 and 2021 when they were in the first biennial (14-16 years old). Together with these students, we decided to engage some of their schoolteachers to make scheduled actions more effective and also increase their level of awareness of the phenomenon in question. Indeed, the key purpose of this final research step was to establish a participatory pedagogical model for co-designing grassroots counter-actions with a distinguishing peer-to-peer approach. This prevention and counteraction model (or template) was developed and implemented with the active contribution of experienced trainers in innovative and participatory methodologies focused on emotional self-awareness and the ability to take action in real-life situations – such as the Theatre of the Oppressed (Gigli et al., 2008; Mamone, 2019) and the 16 Attitudes (Murdoch & Oldershaw, 2012) oriented to enhance and encourage a Student's Voice approach (Cook-Sather, 2006). The participatory training-action process with school communities enabled the construction of theoretical-practical approaches, guidelines, and toolkits applicable in school contexts where bullying incidents and dynamics are experienced and more likely occur.