The boys bullying girls phenomenon has confused researchers and scientists for years. Boys bullying other boys makes perfect sense to most individuals because the survival of the fittest and king of the hill mentalities have always existed in schoolyards and in adult life. Boys competing with boys to be the biggest, fastest, or best is an age-old dynamic. Society expects boys to be competitive, and because of that need for social dominance, society has tolerated the idea that the strong will do whatever it takes to survive and the weak will not.

But boys already have dominance (mainly physical dominance) over females. Boys are generally bigger, stronger, and faster than girls. So why do boys bully both boys and girls? Simply because they can seems to be the standard answer.

A bully always seeks a victim who is less powerful, less strong, and less able to defend themselves than the bully. The bully wants a victim who won't fight back, who will quietly acquiesce, and one who will cower with fear. So when picking a victim, a boy bully will target either a quiet boy who lacks confidence or a girl. In the bully's mind he will be successful either way.

In essence, the bully acts in direct conflict with the greater society. Society values protecting those who are weak, not exploiting them; but a bully has contempt for all who are weaker than himself, therefore he makes no distinction between the sexes.

For a younger child, the bullying takes traditional forms and the boy bully will push and shove and verbally abuse a girl. As he gets older and hits puberty, the bullying and harassment can take on sexual undertones. The bullying may become sexual bullying and entail rude and crude verbal taunts and unwanted physical advances.