How does that perception of femininity develop?
Partly it forms because these boys grew up, for the most part, in isolation. Their lives were really contained within this athletic clique. So from a very young age, they were very separate from the general school population. When they met girls, they either perceived them as acolytes, as servants, to tend to their needs or support them, or, as they grew older, as sexual objects. But they never were really put in situations where they came to see young women as individuals, as people whom they needed to deal with and relate with as human beings, like they treated their own male friends. To some extent, I think that schools, and Glen Ridge schools are not alone, are to blame for permitting that isolation, for not requiring these young men to participate in events and experiences as part of their education on an equal footing with young women. Another thing that’s crucial in understanding how these boys developed is that of the four defendants, three had no sisters. So in addition to gro
