Gender – Pupils' Sexual and Gender Identities

DOUBLE STANDARDS:

• One standard is set against one group, but not another.

• Lees identifies a case of sexual morality where 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 or speaks in a certain way.

• Sexual conquest is approved of and given status by male peers and ignored by make teachers, but ‘promiscuity’ among girls attracts negative labels.

• Feminists see this as an example of patriarchal ideology that justifies male power and devalues women.

• Can be seen as a form of social control that reinforces gender inequality by keeping females subordinate to males.

• This affects pupils’ experience of education as:

  • Boys have more freedom to do what they want with relationships in their social groups whereas females are pressured to do and act certain ways.

THE MALE GAZE:

• Also a visual aspect to the way pupils control each others’ identities.

• Male pupils and teachers look girls up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance.

• Mac an Ghaill sees this as a form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity devalued.

• One of the ways boys prove their masculinity to friends and is often combined with telling and retelling of stories about sexual conquests.

• Boys who don’t display their masculinity in this way run the risk of being labelled gay.

• This affects pupils’ experience of education as:

  • Females go through school in fear of being an object of the male gaze and therefore put more effort into ‘hiding’ themselves.

  • Males aren’t really bothered by the effects on females and just want to be seen as ‘masculine’.

VERBAL ABUSE:

• Connelly – “a rich vocabulary of abuse” is one of the ways in which dominant gender and sexual identities are reinforced.

• E.g Boys use name calling to put girls down if they behave or dress in a certain way.

  • They were ‘slags’ if they appeared sexually available and ‘drags’ if they didn’t (Lees).

• Paechter – name calling helps shape gender identity and maintain male power.

  • The use of negative labels such as ‘gay’, ‘queer’ and ‘lezzie’ are ways that pupils police each other’s sexual identities.

• Parker – boys were labelled ‘gay’ for simply being friendly with female pupils or teachers.

• These labels often bear no relation to the pupil’s actual sexual behaviour.

  • Their function is to reinforce gender norms and identities.

• This affects pupils’ experience of education as:

  • They feel pressurised to hang out with the ‘right’ social group to avoid name calling as well as affecting the way they dress and express themselves.

MALE PEER GROUPS:

• Boys in anti-school subcultures often accuse boys who want to do well at school of being gay or effeminate.

• Mac and Ghaill – 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’.

• Middle class ‘real Englishmen’ projected an image of effortless achievement – succeeding without trying.

• Redman and Mac an Ghaill – the ‘macho lad’ is dominant in lower school and replaced by ‘real Englishmen’ in sixth form, representing the more academic atmosphere of sixth form.

• This affects pupils’ experience of education as:

  • It discourages those who have aspirations in the working class from working hard for their goals.

  • It gives middle class ‘real Englishmen’ unrealistic expectations of effort to input in the real world.

FEMALE PEER GROUPS – POLICING IDENTITY:

• Working class girls gain status by creating a hyper-female identity.

• Involves constructing a glamorous or ‘sexy’ Nike appearance using particular brands and styles.

• Those failing to conform become unpopular and are called ‘tramps’.

• Ringrose’s small-scale study of 14 14-year-old working class girls in South Wales school found that being popular was crucial to girls’ identity.

  • As the girls moved from a girl friendship culture to a heterosexual culture, they faced conflict between:

    • Idealised feminine identity of showing loyalty to friends, being non-competitive and getting along with everyone in the friendship culture.

    • A sexualised identity that involved competing for boys in the dating culture.

• Currie – relationships with boys bring symbolic capital and risk. Have to perform a balancing act between:

  • Being too competitive, and/or thinking themselves better than their peers and risking ‘slut shaming’ – being labelled as sluts and excluded from the friendship culture.

  • Not competing for boyfriends may risk ‘frigid shaming’ by other girls.

  • Shaming therefore is a social control device that school girls use to police, regulate and discipline each other’s identities.

• ‘Boffin identity’ – girls who want to be successful educationally may feel the need to conform to the school’s notion of the ideal feminine pupil identity.

  • Reay found this involved having an asexual identity and presenting a lack of interest in boys or popular fashion.

• Middle-class ‘boffins’ may respond in kind by defining other working class girls as ‘chavs’.

• This affects pupils’ experience of education as:

  • Putting more effort into trying to fit in than focusing on education.

  • Needing to maintain balance between relationships.

TEACHERS AND DISCIPLINE:

• Research shows teachers play part in reinforcing dominant definitions of gender identity.

• Haywood and Mac an Ghaill found male teachers told boys off for ‘behaving like girls’ and teased them when they gained lower marks in tests than girls.

• Teachers tended to ignore boys’ verbal abuse and even blamed girls for attracting it.

• Askew and Ross show male teachers’ behaviour can subtly reinforce messages about gender.

  • E.g 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, reinforces idea that women can’t cope alone.

• This affects pupils’ experience of education as:

  • They believe that teachers won’t be there to help them as they’re also reinforcing gender stereotypes.

  • Means children continue to suffer in these conditions.

IDENTITY, CLASS AND GIRLS’ ACHIEVEMENT:

• In 2013, only 40.6% of girls from poorer families achieved 5 A*-C – compared to 67.5% not on FSM.

• Archer et al – there’s conflict between working class feminine identities and the ethos of school.

• Symbolic capital refers to the status, recognition and sense of worth that’s obtainable from others.

  • These girls gained symbolic capital from their feminine identities.

  • However, meant they weren’t obtaining educational or economic capital.

• Girls spent a lot of time and money on creating hyper-feminine identities.

• Identities combined black urban American style, unisex sportswear, ‘sexy’ clothes and make up and hairstyles – these things brought peer status.

• School saw too much make up, jewellery and a preoccupation with appearance distracting them from school work.

  • They gain less respect from teachers who think they can’t achieve.

• Symbolic violence – the harm done by denying someone symbolic capital, e.g by defining their culture as worthless.

• From school’s point of view, the ‘ideal female pupil’ identity is a de-sexualised and middle class one – that excludes many working class girls.

• Having a boyfriend brings symbolic capital – but also distracts from school work.

  • Also lowered aspirations – less interest in university, or studying ‘masculine’ subjects or gaining a profession career.

• These girls were more interested in working locally in feminine jobs, e.g childcare.

• Wanted to ‘settle down’ (one left school after getting pregnant).

• Some adopt a loud, outspoken, independent, assertive attitude – sometimes questioning teachers.

  • Creates conflict with teachers who see behaviour as aggressive rather than assertive.

MALE TEACHERS:

• Becky Francis found 2/3 of 7-8 year olds believed the gender of their teacher doesn’t matter.

• Read identified two types of language used by teachers:

  • Disciplinarian discourse: the teacher’s authority is explicit and visible, e.g through shouting, ‘exasperated’ tone of voice, sarcasm.

  • Liberal discourse: teacher’s authority is implicit and invisible. Child-centred and uses ‘pseudo-adultification’ – speaks to children as if they’re adults and expects sensibility, kindness and respect.

  • Disciplinarian usually associated with masculine and liberal with feminine.

  • Most out of 51 teachers (25 male, 26 female) used disciplinarian speech – means the ethos of primary schools is actually masculine.

• Haase: 1 in 4 males will achieve a headship, only 1 in 13 females will – primary school is a male environment numerically dominated by females.