Female Bullying Tactics – Psychology & Personality

Specifically, looking into female bullying, anti-social behaviour, and the general tactics that they engage in.

Male vs Female Bullying

It’s much rarer for female bullying to become physical. Therefore, there is a general difference between bullying behaviour and tactics between the sexes.

Female Bully Tactics

Girls are more likely to engage in indirect bullying, such as spreading rumours, gossiping, and reputation destruction.

Manipulating social relationships to exclude or humiliate others. This can include silent treatment, social sabotage, or character defamation.

Verbal attacks, like insults about appearance, intelligence, or social status, and emotional manipulation, such as guilt-tripping or shaming. These tactics aim to undermine self-esteem.

A common strategy is deliberately excluding someone from social groups, events, or conversations to assert power and control. This can be subtle, like ignoring someone in group settings, or overt, like organizing events to exclude a target.

With digital platforms, female bullying often extends online, especially through social media. This includes posting hurtful comments, sharing embarrassing photos, or creating fake profiles to mock others. Girls may use platforms like Instagram or TikTok to target peers.

Bullying often occurs within or between social cliques, where group leaders enforce hierarchies by targeting those perceived as weaker or different. This can create pressure to conform or risk ostracism.

Female bullying frequently targets physical appearance, body image, or romantic relationships. Comments about weight, clothing, or perceived promiscuity are common, as are attempts to disrupt friendships or romantic ties.

Difficult to Detect

Unlike physical bullying, which is more common among males, female bullying is often covert, making it harder to detect. Employers, teachers and parents may overlook it because it lacks visible aggression, yet the psychological impact can be severe.

More men seem to be adopting this style of bullying due to its covert nature, therefore difficulty detecting and proving that it’s happening. Generally, this is because there is more of a crack-down and awareness of bullying behaviour in public settings.

Possible personality traits and disorders that contribute to this?

Narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissism is predicted by high extroversion and low agreeableness.

Borderline personality disorder. High neuroticism, aka high negative emotion, is likely a contributor.