Understanding and dealing with relational aggression among female family members Cheryl Dellasega' s Mean Girls Grown Up broke new ground with its in-depth examination of bullying behavior in adult women. Now Dellasega goes one step further to examine the even harsher reality of female family feuds- sisters who sabotage, ex-wives who wage subtle warfare, and other family situations where women emotionally wound each other. Using clinical insights and real-life stories, Dr. Dellasega explains why these female family antagonisms have a special power to hurt and offers practical strategies to help readers restore relationships and reclaim their lives. Reviews: Relationship counselor Dellasega adds to her long list of self-help books dealing with mean and troubled women ("Surviving Ophelia," "Girl Wars," "Mean Girls Grown Up"). Chock-full of real-life, victim-oriented stories by complaining women, Dellasega's latest is based on the idea that no one can hurt a woman more than a member of her own family, especially if the aggressor is female. Dellasega, a professor in the College of Medicine and in the department of humanities and women's studies at Penn State, offers depressing tales of women betraying their sisters and mothers-in-law humiliating their sons' wives. No longer a symptom of what used to be called a "dysfunctional family," Dellasega labels this unrest "Relative Relational Aggression" or "Relative RA." By the end, one can't help but long for the sensible advice of the late Ann Landers. Once, when someone wrote in to her asking what to do when a family member was rude to you, Landers told her to simply say, "Excuse me?" But then where's the drama in that? "(Oct.)" ("Publishers Weekly," August 20, 2007) About the Author: Cheryl Dellasega, PhD (Hershey, PA) is a professor in the College of Medicine and Department of Humanities and Women' s Studies at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of Mean Girls Grown Up (see below) as well as two other books, Surviving Ophelia (0-345-45538-X) and Girl Wars (0-7432-4987-9). |