Primary Boys and Hegemonic Masculinities

This paper explores the relationships between primary‐aged boys, hegemonic masculinities and sexualised/violent behaviours in the school setting. The data for this paper arise out of a year‐long ethnographic study of two primary schools in the North‐East of England. The aims are twofold: to explore the way in which heterosexual harassment features in the particular hegemonic masculinity of each school; and secondly, to consider the extent to which primary school boys of different ages and social class backgrounds draw upon sexually harassing/violent attitudes and behaviours as one of the key processes in defining their male identities within their peer groups.     

“I’m Being a Man Here”: Urban Boys’ Performances of Masculinity and Engagement With Science During a Science Museum Visit

The importance of increasing and widening participation in post-compulsory science and informal science learning (ISL) spaces is widely recognized—particularly for working-class and minority ethnic communities. While there is a growing understanding of the intersection of femininity with class, ethnicity, and science learning across formal and informal settings, there has been little work on how masculinity may shape urban boys’ science (non)participation and (dis)engagement. This article analyzes performances of masculinity enacted by 36 urban, working-class boys (from diverse ethnic backgrounds) during school science museum visits, exploring how these performances relate to science identity and engagement. We identify three main performances of masculinity enacted during the visits (“laddishness,” “muscular intellect,” and “translocational masculinity”), and trace the implications of each for boys’ science engagement. We consider the power implications of these performances, notably the extent to which hegemonic masculinity is normalized within the science museum space, the ways in which this normalization is co-constitutive of the boys’ performances of masculinity, and the implications of the boys’ performances of masculinity for other students (notably girls and less dominant boys). The article concludes with implications for research, policy, and practice regarding how to promote equitable participation and science learning within ISL.     

Needing to be ‘in the know’: strategies of subordination used by 10–11‐year‐old schoolboys

It is important for educators to understand the tactics used in subordination between young people if they are going to take effective measures to counter them in their pedagogical practice. The paper explores strategies used by schoolboys aged 10–11 years to subordinate and position boys at the bottom of the pupil hierarchy. The findings are based on data gathered from a year‐long empirical study (between 1998 and 1999) set in three UK junior schools which were differentiated by the social characteristics of their intake. The research emphasizes the role of the body in the construction of masculinity. The hegemonic, or most idealized, form of masculinity at each school was constructed around activity and, in particular, various forms of embodied physicality/athleticism (exemplified through skill, strength, fitness and speed), and boys who did not wish to, or who were unable to, use these resources generally found themselves marginalized and/or subordinated. Many of the subordinated forms were symbolically assimilated to femininity, and the paper proposes that the main strategies of subordination can be summarized under the generic heading of ‘difference’. The final section discusses the pervasive use of homophobia and concludes that it should be conceptualized in terms of gender as well as sex.     

Access and use of technologies in the home in the UK: implications for the curriculum

There is increasing acknowledgement that differences exist in the levels of achievement of boys and girls in English primary schools, as evidenced by performances in National Curriculum tests at Key Stages 1 and 2. This article briefly examines the nature of these differences, both nationally and specifically within the context of a pilot study of four schools in different socio-economic contexts. Some of the underlying factors behind these differential achievements are considered, particularly within the context of literacy issues and of boys' constructions of masculinity. An analysis of the approaches towards creating a context for achievement of both girls and boys in these four schools is then offered, with a focus on pedagogic, organizational and socio-cultural strategies. It is suggested that, while intervention strategies which have the potential to raise the achievement levels of boys (and girls) are being successfully developed in each pilot school, there is as yet only limited evidence to suggest how and why these interventions are most effective, and indeed, how these interventions might be successfully adapted and transferred to other school contexts.     

Language: an important signifier of masculinity in a bilingual context

This paper is based upon a case study in an all boys’ church comprehensive secondary school in Malta which explored teachers’ awareness of boys’ attitudes and interests. It uncovered a number of practices across the school’s official and ‘hidden’ curricula and at its administrative level, which, together with the student peer culture present on site, influence the construction of student masculine identities. This article argues that the decision by boys to speak one language rather than another in a bilingual context, is very much influenced by norms of masculinity. These are strengthened by the student peer group as well as by the male teachers within the institution and suggests that language is an important signifier of masculinity in a bilingual school, a masculinity which, in a post‐colonial context, is shown to be heavily linked to national pride and identity.     

We don’t play with gays,they’re not real boys … they can’t fight: Hegemonic masculinity and (homophobic) violence in the primary years of schooling

Whenever masculinity and school violence are considered in South African research, the focus is often on the high school. In this paper, we consider a different direction by drawing on Connell’s (1995) concept of hegemonic masculinity to understand the workings of power and violence amongst a group of South African primary school boys. Little is known about how forces of hegemonic masculinity operate to shape every day gender relations amongst younger boys. Against this background, this paper focuses on a particular group of boys, between 10 and 13 years old, who attend a ‘black’, working-class primary school in South Africa. In addition, they identify themselves as ‘real boys’, where being a ‘real boy’ is inextricably linked to violent ‘performances’ of hegemonic masculinity on the school playground during break time. The paper explores how these boys use forms of violence to claim control of the playground space and to exclude, marginalise and denigrate the other group of boys whom they construct as ‘unmasculine’ and ‘gay’. The findings raise implications for ways of curbing the violence, such as working with the boys to promote non-violent interpretations of performing, being and becoming a ‘real boy’.     

'The Money's Good,The Fame's Good,The Girls are Good': The role of playground football in the construction of young boys' masculinity in a junior school

This paper looks at the influential part played by the game of football in the social construction of hegemonic masculine practices among a group of Year 6 boys in an English junior school, which is an area that remains under-researched. Football forms a large part of school life for many children (the majority of whom are boys) and is sated with masculinising associations: this paper argues that football acts as a model for the boys, and they use the game as a way of constructing, negotiating, and performing their masculinity. Football is seen as a key signifier of successful masculinity, and its practices are a major influence on hegemonic masculinities, which are performed and defended in relation to other masculinities and femininities that become subordinated and marginalised. Girls are excluded from the games, along with some of the boys in the subordinated group who become feminised by their lack of skill and competence, and are subjected to homophobic abuse, as the hegemonic group acts within the 'cultural imperative' of heterosexuality. The games of playground football are viewed as a series of ritualised and fantasised performances, and this paper proposes that the body plays an essential role in the formation of masculine identities, with competitive displays of skill and strength. The school policies and organisation of football are also considered, and the power struggles and tensions this causes, not only between pupils, but also between teachers and pupils, and between teacher and teacher.     

A boy who would rather write poetry than throw rocks at cats is also considered to be wanting in masculinity: poetry,masculinity, and baiting boys

This paper draws on research on masculinities to examine poetry as a socially and culturally gendered genre. Situated in the context of the current ‘crisis’ around boys’ underachievement in school, attention is drawn to the problematic understanding of poetry as an unsuitable genre for boys. Attention is further drawn to the way in which poetry, when offered up to boys, is often imbued with traditional and outdated definitions of masculinity. We illustrate the extent to which hegemonic versions of masculinity are implicated in discourses about poetry as an unsuitable genre for boys. This is accomplished by undertaking a critical analysis of various sources such as Odean's (1998) Great Book for Boys, and Scieszka's (2005) Guys Write for Guys Read, as well as Iggulden and Iggulden's (2006) The Dangerous Book for Boys. Historical perspectives which highlight the role of sexologists in forging an association between poetry and effeminacy are also used to illuminate the legacy associated with the treatment of poetry somehow discordant with dominant understandings about boys’ developing masculinity. In this way, we provide a richer understanding of poetry and its discursive relationship to masculinity.     

Back to the future on gender and anti‐school boys: a response to Jeffrey Smith

This article examines recent claims by Jeffrey Smith that: (1) ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is an expression of working class counter‐school culture; (2) some teachers are ‘cultural accomplices’ in constructing ‘hegemonic masculinities’ of anti‐school working class boys, thereby contributing to their underachievement; and (3) these ‘cultural accomplices’ are an emerging response to recent moral panics and neo‐liberal managerialism concerned with ‘failing boys’ at school. It is suggested that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is not necessarily associated with anti‐school values in working class culture. Many working class boys might subscribe to ‘hegemonic masculinity’ without rejecting learning. Contrary to Smith’s emphasis on how working class culture generates anti‐school ‘hegemonic masculinity’, there is the possibility that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is fused with anti‐school values produced by organisational differentiation. The continuing commonalities between working class anti‐school boys and the ‘gender regime’ of some secondary schools for over 20 years implies something more enduring at work than recent moral panics.     

‘Sticks and stones': masculinities and conflict spaces

Drawing upon a post-structural ethnography of boys’ constructions of gendered and sexual identities in one South African high school, this paper empirically seeks to theorise how 20 Grade 8 boys, identified as The Jokers, The Achievers, The Outcasts and The Average Ou's, simultaneously seek out spaces in male peer culture to cultivate, police and challenge hegemonic notions of masculinity. The paper illustrates the construction and positioning of masculinities across spaces of conflict, more particularly, the personal and social resources reproduced by boys in the pursuit of ‘desirable’ masculinities across experiences of interpersonal conflict, punishment, friendship and play. Given the nature of these identity struggles in school boy peer culture, this paper highlights the need for fostering and maintaining peer conversational spaces where boys and girls are challenged to actively deconstruct prevailing gendered identities and work towards more expansive definitions of self.     

The Resources and Strategies Boys Use to Establish Status in a Junior School without Competitive Sport

The data in this paper comes from an ethnographically based study of Year 6 (10-11-year-old) boys in an English junior school. It investigates the resources and strategies used and created by the boys to classify themselves, and to construct and perform their masculinity in a tightly regulated school where competitive sport (including playground football) is prohibited for the majority of the school year. The paper considers the relationship between the formal school culture and informal pupil culture, and, in particular, the options open, limited and closed to the boys to construct their masculinities and establish status/prestige within their immediate peer group. One option open was being able to work hard in class without peer reprovement, but despite the limitation of competitive games/sport, the most favoured form of masculine status was still exemplified by embodied forms of athleticism and physicality. The paper also explores another way of gaining status, which was by a form of verbal abuse known as 'cussing': this was a pervasive and prevalent part of school life, and is viewed as another form of competitive, stylised performance.     

Boys negotiate violence and masculinity in the primary school

Abstract

In this paper, we contribute to the understandings of young masculinities by turning attention to the South African schooling primary school context. In the context of scarcity of interventions around violence in the primary school, we focus on how young boys construct, negotiate and experience violence. Notwithstanding dominant discourses around childhood innocence we argue that young boys are active participants in violent gendered cultures at school. We show how boys’ bodies are key sites for the enactment of violence and is especially a valuable resource in the context of food insecurity. The paper also shows the fluidity of masculinity as boys who are regarded as ‘victims’ can also defend and resuscitate masculinity that endorses violence. Implications for addressing young masculinities in the primary school within local context are considered in the conclusion of the paper.     

Masculinity,inequality and post-school opportunities: disrupting oppositional politics about boys' education

Popular discourses about ‘boys' education’—both in Australia and internationally—have often been drawn from oppositional storylines that construct ‘boys’ at school as a new disadvantaged group. This paper rejects such a construction, arguing that it fails to take account of the economic and social advantages that boys, as a single group, still experience in the post-schooling years; that it fails to differentiate within the category of ‘boy’, to examine how particular groups of boys fare far less well than do other groups of boys; and that it neglects the impact of constructs of masculinity upon boys' lives at school. The paper considers four issues of significance for boys at school: narrow and stereotypical subject choice; unruly and risk-taking behaviours; poor literacy achievement; and low school retention rates. However, it demonstrates that these issues predominantly affect boys who are unprotected by economic and social privilege.     

'You're Hopeless I Swear to God': Shifting masculinities in classroom talk

In this article the author aims to problematise the discourse of masculinity in the co-educational classroom. Moving strategically sideways to focus on boys rather than girls, it is argued that 'masculinity' is not a fixed essence but a shifting gendered social identity. Although mass culture generally assumes there is a fixed, true masculinity, not all boys and men take up the same kind of masculinity, nor do they experience 'maleness' in the same way. Social class and subcultures (as well as other inflections of identity not discussed in this article) profoundly affect the presentation and representation of masculine identities. Moreover, masculinity as a particular configuration of gender is constituted in relation to local contexts within the meritocratic discourse of schooling. The ethnographic data in this article, which focuses on boys relating to girls in the classroom, show how varied the contexts of gender production can be even within the same roughly parallel configurations of task and location. It is concluded that masculinity is above all a social identity accomplishment.     

Sharing the same world: boys' relations with girls during their last year of primary school

This paper explores the effect of cross gender relations on the construction of boys' masculine identities. The findings are based on data gathered from a year long empirical study of 10 to 11‐year‐old boys set in three UK junior schools. Although masculinity is defined against femininity and boys needed to mark out a set of distinctions from themselves and girls, I found that most boys categorized girls as different (they are not us) rather than oppositional, and the most common reaction was one of detachment and disinterest. Rather than maintaining that there are two separate worlds, I argue that there are two complementary gendered cultures, sharing the one overall school world, which are further nuanced by social class and race/ethnicity. Although there was a tendency of boys to dominate space and girls were often excluded from playground games, many girls refused to be dominated by boys, and some were able to deliberately exercise power over them.     

Motives for ‘Laddishness’ at School: Fear of failure and fear of the ‘feminine’

‘Laddish’ behaviours in school have been identified as impediments to the academic progress of some boys and girls. This article provides and discusses empirical evidence to support Jackson's proposal in an earlier article that ‘laddish’ behaviours may act to protect the self‐worth and/or social worth of many boys, and that ‘laddishness’ may be prompted by both a fear of academic failure and a fear of the ‘feminine’. Drawing upon data from interviews with 50 boys across two secondary schools, the article focuses upon a key characteristic of ‘laddishness’, namely, the overt rejection of academic work. It is suggested that overtly rejecting academic work serves a dual function for some boys. First, it enables them to act in ways currently consistent with hegemonic forms of masculinity in their schools. Secondly, it provides an excuse for failure and augments success.     

Boys,masculinity and school violence: reaping what we sow

In this paper the author explores the relationship between masculinity and violence. She begins by pointing out that although all of the recent school shootings in the US have been perpetrated by boys, very few are associating the acts with the gender of the offenders. Perhaps this connection is not made because society is so conditioned to the fact that men and boys have always made up the preponderance of violent offenders in the US. In this paper the attitudes and behaviors associated with the socially constructed culture of masculinity that lend themselves to male violence and aggression are explored. It includes a discussion of a Freirean approach to the problem and concludes with practical suggestions for transformation.     

‘Man-up,go and get an ice-pack.’ Gendered stereotypes and binaries within the primary classroom: a thing of the past?

Gendered expectations are deeply embedded within the fabric of a society and the classroom is no exception; binaries habitually pervade attitudes, practices and pedagogies. This small-scale qualitative-interpretive study, undertaken in one rural primary school in North Wales, explores how the learning of gender is constructed, enacted and challenged by participants functioning within Key Stage 2 (children aged 8–11 years), issues experienced by, both girls and boys, to cogitate implications for gender equity and for teachers' work. The fieldwork revealed that many school participants continue to draw upon essentialist binary discourse, predominantly based on biological theories, to explain differences between boys and girls relating to classroom behaviour, subject attainment, curricular preferences and career pathways. Constant reference was made to acceptable ways of ‘doing masculinity’ and the ‘high-achieving, conforming school girl culture’. Children recognised gender binaries used by teachers and were aware of societal advances in gender equity. Despite decades of research and policies, we are still some way to ameliorating gender binaries and stereotypes in this phase of schooling. Therefore, there is an urgent need for practitioners to become more reflexively aware about the complex ways in which gendered dualisms and hierarchies perpetuate and dictate relations and pedagogical practices, which constrain experiences and opportunities for girls and boys and, to incorporate multiple ways of thinking and doing gender in classrooms.     

Underperformance or ‘getting it right’? Constructions of gender and achievement in the Australian inquiry into boys’ education

The underachievement of boys has been a focus of intense concern in Australia for over 15 years. Historical analyses suggest that male students’ poor performance has traditionally been attributed to factors external to boys themselves (methods, teachers, texts), deflecting attention from the relationship between masculinity construction and successful engagement with school. This paper turns the focus back, addressing the ways in which gender itself was constructed within hearings held for the Australian Parliamentary Inquiry into Boys’ Education. Discursive analysis demonstrates that witnesses to the Inquiry drew upon a series of gender binaries in representing male and female students, and accounting for their relative attainment. These binaries worked to associate masculinity with ‘authentic’ learning, such that the success of male students was naturalised even in the absence of achievement. Conversely, the association of femininity and ‘inauthentic learning’ worked to undermine female students’ demonstrated success. The role of these binaries in the reproduction of a paradoxical relationship between gender and achievement is discussed.     

Commentary: Conjuring Kinesiology and Other Political Parlor Tricks

While certain patterns of masculinity can assume hegemonic status to operate at an unquestioned, common sense level use of the concept of hegemonic masculinity runs the risk of missing multiple patterns of masculinity operating within and in relation to hegemonic masculinity in and around sport. Drawing on research conducted on rugby in an Australian Greater Public School (GPS) school, this article examines the ways in which variation, diversity, and resistance can be found operating within a particular form of hegemonic masculinity. Through critical re-examination of data from a study conducted in 1997, it peels back a layer of apparent compliance with a hegemonic form of masculinity among the boys in the 1st XV rugby team to identify a form of embodied resistance in the desire of the boys in the team to adopt a style of rugby that challenged the school's traditional approach.