The "sword of a woman": Gossip and female aggression

An interest in the affairs of same-sex others is especially strong among females, and women are more likely than men to use gossip in an aggressive, competitive manner. The goal of such gossip is to exclude competitors from a social group and damage the competitor's ability to maintain a reliable social network of her own. Timeworn assumptions about an affinity between females and negative gossip appear to be more than just a stereotype. Understanding the dynamics of competitive gossip may also give us insight into related social phenomena such as how people use social media such as Facebook. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.