IT BEGINS AT 10 -GENDER IDENTITY

• The hegemonic myth: There is a global set of forces from schools, parents, media, and peers themselves that reinforce the hegemonic myths that girls are vulnerable and that boys are strong and independent. Even in sites where parents acknowledged the vulnerability of their sons, they focus on protecting their daughters.
• 2. 
  Pubertal girls are the embodiment of sex and sexuality: Around the world pubertal boys are viewed as predators and girls as potential targets and victims. Messages such as—do not sit like that, do not wear that, do not talk to him, boys will ruin your future—support the gender division of power and affect while promote sex segregation to preserve girl's sexuality. In some places, girls come to internalize these norms to even a greater extent than boys.
• 3. 
  Cover up and do not go out: As a consequence of adult perceptions of female sexual vulnerability, in nearly every site, girls' mobility is far more restricted than for boys. As one girl in Assuit, Egypt noted: “A girl cannot go out as she wishes because she is a girl and if a girl came home late her parents would shout at her, but it is okay for a guy.”
• 4. 
  Boys are trouble: Because of adult concerns about their sexual vulnerability, girls are repeatedly told to stay away from boys and there are sanctions if they do not—punishment, social isolation, sexual rumor, and innuendo. Both boys and girls lament this situation. They played together as children and were friends, but now with puberty, those friendships are no longer legitimate.
• 5. 
  Both boys and girls are aware of gender nonconforming peers: Young people (as well as a number of parents) spoke of peers whose interests, appearance, dress, and/or appearance was more typical of the opposite sex than their own. For such young people, there were significant sanctions and pressures to conform to what is seen as gender-appropriate behaviors; and our quantitative data suggest that boys are even less tolerant of such peers than girls.