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’.     

‘Other’ boys: negotiating non‐hegemonic masculinities in the primary school

Focusing on the experiences of boys who choose not to cultivate their masculinities through hegemonic discourses and practices, this paper seeks to empirically explore and theorize the extent to which it is possible to live out the category ‘boy’ in non‐hegemonic ways in the primary school setting. Drawing upon a year‐long ethnography of children's constructions of their gender and sexual identities in two primary schools, it examines how a minority of 10‐ and 11‐year‐old white working and middle‐class boys create and seek out spaces from which they can resist, subvert and actively challenge prevailing hegemonic (heterosexual) masculinities within a peer group pupil culture which thrives on the daily policing and shaming of Other1 Following the writings of bel hooks (e.g., 1990 hooks b. (1990) Yearning: race, gender and cultural politics (Boston, MA, South End Press)  [Google Scholar]) I am loosely using the term Other to conceptualise those identities located at the margins— those non‐hegemonic identities that are in some ways resistant and order‐transforming (rather than conventional and order‐maintaining) and thus cross and/or blur sex/gender boundaries. View all notes masculinities. The paper attempts to theorize more fully the inter‐relationship of hegemonic and non‐hegemonic masculinities and argues that the ways in which boys inhabit and construct non‐hegemonic masculinities both subverts and reinforces hegemonic gender/sexual relations.     

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.     

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.     

Girls negotiating sexuality and violence in the primary school

Girls’ vulnerability to sexual violence and harassment is a recurrent theme in much of the literature on schooling in sub‐Saharan Africa. Within this research, girls are often framed as passive victims of violence. By drawing on a case study, this paper focuses on 12 to 13‐year‐old South African school girls as they mediate and participate in heterosexual cultures that are simultaneously privileging and damaging. Set against the wider social context where violent gender relations are key to the building blocks of patriarchy, the paper examines how heterosexuality underscores the formation of femininity as girls engage with and participate with each other and boys in informal school relations. To this end, Butler's concept of the ‘heterosexual matrix’ is deployed to examine how girls navigate the wall of male power, where the ‘real’ expression of femininity is embedded within heterosexuality. The paper explores girls’ investment in heterosexual cultures in the school playground and on ‘dress‐up Friday’ to examine how gender power inequalities and violent relations manifest. In expanding the analysis of heterosexuality to primary school contexts, the paper broadens the focus of school‐based gender and sexualities research in sub‐Saharan Africa to address a neglected area of younger girls’ femininity and their active agency. The paper argues for the importance of addressing primary school girls, femininity and the power of heterosexuality through which relations of inequalities operate.     

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.     

(Re)Configuring masculinities in an ethno-centric Australian community school: complexity and contradictions

This article draws on a case study of 15 boys aged between 13 and 14 years who attend an urban ethno-centric community school located in Melbourne, Australia. The study investigated how the boys' constructions of masculinity were mediated by a strong connectedness to their Greek cultural traditions and ideals. Data generated from focus group discussions provided insights into the complex ways in which the boys individually and collectively constructed their understandings of what it means to be a man. For most boys, maleness constituted cultural traditions and behaviours that must be learnt: a code of conduct which a boy acquires from his elders that is talked into existence and transmitted through a hegemonic discourse. Yet the findings also revealed the agency boys can exercise and the fluidity of their configurations: contradictions and inconsistencies being an inherent part of the recursive process of their gendered identity formation.     

Evaluation of the peacemakers program: School‐based violence prevention for students in grades four through eight

This study evaluated the violence prevention effects of The Peacemakers Program, a school‐based intervention for students in grades four through eight. The program includes a primary prevention component delivered by teachers and a remedial component implemented by school psychologists and counselors with referred students. The teacher‐delivered component consists of a psychoeducational curriculum and procedures for infusing program content into the school environment. The study included almost 2,000 students in an urban public school system, with pre‐ and post‐program assessment and comparison to a control group. There were significant, positive program effects on six of the seven variables assessed, including knowledge of psychosocial skills, self‐reported aggression, and teacher‐reported aggression, with a 41% decrease in aggression‐related disciplinary incidents and a 67% reduction in suspensions for violent behavior. On some outcome variables, intervention effects were stronger for boys than girls and for middle school compared to upper elementary school students. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

'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.     

Male Teachers in Feminised Teaching Areas: Marching to the beat of the men's movement drums?

Calls for more male teachers are prevalent in current gender debates in education. A dominant argument in this debate is that boys are often alienated from school because of a lack of male role models in feminised areas of the school curriculum and in primary schools. Little research has investigated male teachers' accounts of their work within feminised environments. Drawing on data collected in two research studies in music education, this paper focuses on accounts given by male teachers about (a) practices adopted specifically to work with boys and (b) the role of the male music teacher. Analysis of these data suggests that some male teachers working in feminised areas of the school curriculum adopt practices which, rather than challenging dominant constructions of masculinity, sometimes reinforce gender stereotypical behaviours in boys. We argue that calls for increasing the number of male teachers in feminised areas of schooling need also to be informed by open discussion of the underlying assumptions about masculinity which teachers themselves bring to their work.     

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.     

Private supplementary tutoring among primary students in Bangladesh

Using the databases created under Education Watch, a civil society initiative to monitor primary and basic education in Bangladesh, this paper explores trends, socioeconomic differentials and cost in private supplementary tutoring among primary students and its impact on learning achievement. The rate of primary school students getting access to private supplementary tutoring is increasing at two percentage points per year and reached 31% in 2005. Incidence of private tutoring was greater among boys and urban students than respective counterparts. Educated parents and well‐off families were more likely to arrange supplementary tutoring for their children. A wide variation in the cost for private tutoring prevailed. The tutees spent 46% of their total private expenditure for education on supplementary tutoring. Supplementary tutoring helped students learn more than those who had no such support. Private tutors for primary school students have become a well‐accepted norm. Finally, a number of social implications are discussed.     

Difficult‐to‐manage Students: a survey of children who fail to respond to student discipline strategies in government schools

Previous studies of discipline problems in junior primary and primary schools have indicated that the majority of behaviour management problems both inside and outside classrooms can be attributed to relatively small numbers of children who persist in difficult‐to‐manage behaviour. This study explored particular aspects of these children's behavioural characteristics, as reported from the results of a survey of principals from the majority of junior primary and primary schools in South Australia. The data summarised propose a tentative profile of these difficult‐to‐manage children, together with findings concerning the impact their behaviours have on the school staff. Suggestions are offered for more effectively meeting the demands and needs of these children.     

Choosing to belong: increasing adolescent male engagement in the ELA classroom

The author conducted an action research study in his ninth grade English classroom in order to help the boys in his class to be more engaged. He decided to enable students to make more choices in the reading and writing activities so that both boys' and girls' literacies could be valued. He used independent reading and literature circles to help boys find books that met their diverse interests, and designed writing assignments which enabled students to choose topics which matched their out‐of‐school interests. Boys and girls benefited from such choice. He observed boys, especially, engaging in more literate behaviours—such as talking about books and sharing each others' writing.     

Secondary school teachers’ perceptions of students’ problem behaviours

Much of the research into behaviour problems and school interventions has focused on primary school‐age children. In the primary school setting, the behaviours that cause the most concern to teachers are frequently occurring but relatively minor behaviours such as calling out and interrupting the learning of others. These minor problematic behaviours have been shown to respond to low‐level interventions that are presented as written advice. The behaviours that secondary school teachers perceive as problematic, and the preferred method of intervention, have received comparatively little attention in the research. An investigation of the behaviour problems that high school teachers find most troublesome was conducted in this study. It was found that similar behaviours were reported as troublesome in the secondary school classroom compared with the primary classroom, although differences were demonstrated across year levels. Teachers were also surveyed about their preferred method of intervention/assistance for these behaviour problems. This information about intervention approaches informs the development of strategies for assisting classroom teachers.     

School Leaders as Learners: what attitudes and preferences do they have?

Leadership development is a key issue for success in leading educational reform and school improvement. Demands for more flexible, responsive, and enterprise‐driven schooling require that school leaders can create the kind of conditions which sustain vigorous processes of continuous school improvement. To meet this requirement, school leaders must be in command of a broader range of leadership and management expertise than was traditionally required of them. The changing environments make it essential for school leaders to have a high level of awareness of their preferences for leadership development and a commitment to improve their professional performance. This paper discusses findings of a survey‐based study of school leaders’ attitudes and preferences for professional development in Western Australia. Surveys conducted among principals and deputy principals of primary (n = 233) and secondary (n = 180) schools reveal some important similarities, as well as differences, in the extent to which primary and secondary school leaders have recognized the potential for work‐based and peer‐assisted learning.     

Insights into the strategic ways in which two bilingual children in the early years seek to negotiate the competing demands on their identity in their home and school worlds

This paper reports on the results of a small‐scale study into the ways in which two bilingual boys attempt to manage the discontinuities between their identities at home and as members of an early years class at a mainly white primary school in the UK. To do this, a number of semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with the boys and their parents. The results reveal that while the children generally attempt to assume the pupil identity options afforded them at school, the differences between these and those they take up in their home environment generally lead them to seek to keep the world of the home and of the school separate in ways that disrupt the school’s attempts to develop home/school partnership initiatives. We argue that a focus on identity management issues for children in the early years allows new and more critical understandings to emerge that can usefully inform the practices that educators can develop to enhance their learning experiences.     

‘Ye've got to ‘ave balls to play this game sir!’ Boys,peers and fears: the negative influence of school‐based ‘cultural accomplices’ in constructing hegemonic masculinities

The ongoing moral panic surrounding adolescent boys continues to cause concern, proving pivotal in popular discourses centring on the ‘problem of youth’. Drawing on ethnographic data from a large co‐educational secondary school, this paper illustrates how school outcomes are adversely affected by working class boys' investments in peer regulated ‘hegemonic’ masculinity. Echoing traditional working class masculine identities formed in relation to the physical requirements of industrial labour, these performances reject associations with activities constructed as ‘feminine’, leading to disaffection with schoolwork. The paper argues that, in a school culture of pervasive homophobia, some teachers paradoxically acted as ‘cultural accomplices’, naturalizing compulsory heterosexuality in engaging alienated and disruptive young men. Moreover, evidence suggests that this is an emerging response to managerialist pressures to ‘continuously improve’ grades by adopting ‘boy friendly’ approaches. This renders questionable strategies predicated on naturalizing assumptions about boys and makes problematic calls for more ‘role models’ without investigating how gendered pedagogies affect schooling for girls and boys.     

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.