Pupils' Sexual And Gender Identities

What may experiences in school contribute to?

Reinforcing what Connell calls ‘hegemonic masculinity‘ - the dominance of heterosexual masculine identity and the subordination of female and gay identities.

When does a double standard exist?

When we apply one set of moral standards to one group but a different set to another group.

In the case of gender identities, what does Lees identify?

A double standard of sexual morality in which boys boast about their own sexual exploits, but call a girl a ‘slag‘ if she doesn’t have a steady boyfriend or if she dresses and speaks in a certain way. Sexual conquest is approved of and given status by male peers and ignored by male teachers, but ‘promiscuity‘ among girls attracts negative labels.

What so feminists see these double standards as?

An example of a patriarchal ideology that justifies male power and devalues women. Double standards can be seen as a form of social control that reinforces gender inequality by keeping females subordinate to males.

What is one of the ways in which dominant gender and sexual identities are reinforced?

By what Connell calls a ‘rich vocabulary of abuse‘. For example boys use name-calling to put girls down if they behave in certain ways.

What did Parker find?

That boys were labelled gay simply for being friendly with girls or female teachers. Both Lees and Paechter note that these labels often bear no relation to pupils’ actual sexual behaviour. Their function is to simply to reinforce gender norms and identities.

How else to pupils control each other’s identities?

There is also a visual aspect to it. Ghaill refers to this as the ‘male gaze‘

What is the male gaze?

The way male pupils and teachers up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance.

What does Ghaill see the male gaze as?

A form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity devalued. It is one of the ways boys prove their masculinity to their friends and is often combined with constant telling and retelling of stories about sexual conquests. Boys who do not display their heterosexuality in this way run the risk of being labelled gay.

What do male peer groups use to reinforce their definitions of masculinity?

Verbal abuse, as studies by Epstein and Willis show, boys in antischool subcultures often accuse boys who want to do well of being gay or effeminate.

What does Ghaill’s study examine?

How peer groups reproduce a range of different class based identities . For example, the working-class ‘macho-lads‘ were dismissive of other working class boys who worked hard and aspired to middle-class careers, referring to them as the ‘dickhead achievers‘. By contrast, middle-class ‘real Englishmen‘ projected an image of ‘effortless achievement’.

What did Redman and Ghaill find?

That the dominant definition of masculine identity changes from that of the macho lads in the lower school to that of the real Englishmen in the sixth form. This represents a shift away from a working-class definition based on toughness to a middle-class one based on intellectual ability. This reflects the more middle-class composition and atmosphere of the sixth form.

What did Ringrose’s study of teen girls in working class peer groups show?

That being popular was crucial to the girls’ identity. As the girls made a transition from a girls’ friendship culture into a heterosexual dating culture, they faced a tension between an idealised feminine identity of loyalty to the female peer group, being non competitive and getting along with everybody in the friendship culture and a sexualised identity that involved competing for boys in the dating culture.

What does Currie et al. argue?

That while relationships with boys can confer symbolic capital, this is a high risk game. This is because girls are forced to perform a balancing act between these two identities:

• Girls who are too competitive and/r think themselves better than their peers risk ‘slut shaming‘ - being labelled as sluts and excluded from the friendship culture.

• On the other hand, girls who don’t compete for boyfriends may face ‘frigid shaming‘ by the other girls.

Thus, what is shaming?

A social control device by which schoolgirls regulate, discipline and police each other’s identities.

What may girls who want to be successful educationally feel the need to do?

Conform to the school’s notion of the ideal feminine pupil identity, presenting themselves as lacking any interest in boyfriends or popular fashion.As a result, they risk being given the identity of a ‘boffin‘ and being excluded by both boys and girls.

What did Francis find about the ‘boffin identity‘?

Middle-class boffins may respond by defining other, working-class girls as ‘chavs‘.

What does research show that teachers also play a part in?

Reinforcing dominant traditions of gender identity.

What did Haywood and Ghill find?

That male teachers told boys off for ‘behaving like girls‘ and teased then when they gained lower marks in tests than girls. Teachers tended to ignore girls’ verbal abuse of girls and even blamed girls for attracting it.

What do Askew and Ross show?

How make teacher’s behaviour can subtly reinforce messages about gender. For example, male teachers often have a protective attitude towards female colleagues, coming into their classes to ‘rescue‘ them by threatening pupils who are being disruptive. However, this reinforces the idea that women cannot cope alone.