gender and schools

gender

the social and cultural expressions of differences between the masculine and the feminine; behaviour that is expected to map onto people based on their sex category (West and Zimmerman)

doing gender

gender is produced through interaction and our performance are assessed by those with whom we interact

doing gender at school

institutional context that influences and reinforces gendered behaviour

elementary schools (thorne)

gender borderwork, chasing games and pollution rituals

gender borderwork

boundaries between girls and boys that limit how they engage through various forms of play; often pitted against each other or divided by activity on playgrounds

chasing games

cross-gender chasing games activate opposition; girls create “safety” zones and are more likely to seek adult intervention while boys are described as more physical

pollution rituals

girls as a categorial source of pollution, such as being labelled as having “cooties” and contaminating; pollution rituals may target marginalized children (gender, race, class, weight, physical ability)

secondary schools

intense sites of gender assignment by peers

fag discourse

discredits masculinity and becoming stigmatized shapes social interactions; homophobic and reinforced normative gender performances