how schools reinforce pupils gender and sexual identities

Question 1

how schools reinforce pupils gender and sexual identities

Answer 1

double standards
verbal abuse
the male gaze
male peer groups
female peer groups
teachers and discipline

Question 2

double standards - lees

Answer 2

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 boyf or dresses a certain way. sexual conquest is approved of and given status by male peers and ignored by male teachers - ‘promiscuity’ among girls attract negative labels

Question 3

verbal abuse - connell

Answer 3

‘rich vocab of abuse’ is one of the ways dominant gender and sexual identities are reinforced

Question 4

verbal abuse - lees

Answer 4

boys called girls ‘slags’ if they appeared to be sexually active and ‘drass’ if they didn’t

Question 5

verbal abuse - paechter

Answer 5

sees name calling as helping to shape gender identity and maintain male power. use of negative labels such as ‘gay’, ‘queer’

Question 6

verbal abuse - parker

Answer 6

found that boys were labelled gay for being friendly with girls or female teachers

Question 7

male gaze

Answer 7

the way male pupils and teachers look girls up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgments about their appearance

Question 8

how does male gaze shape gender and/or gender identity - mac an ghaill

Answer 8

sees the male gaze as a form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity reinforced and femininity devalued. it’s one of the way boys prove their masculinity to their friends and is often combined with constant retelling of sexual conquests.
boys who don’t display their heterosexuality in this way run the risk of being labelled gay

Question 9

male peer groups: epstein and willis

Answer 9

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

Question 10

male peer groups: mac an ghaill

Answer 10

peer groups reproduce a range of different class-based masculine gender identities
e.g WC ‘macho lads’ - dismissive of other WC boys who worked hard and referred to them as ‘dickhead achievers’
MC ‘real englishmen’ projected image of ‘effortless achievement’

Question 11

female peer groups: ringrose

Answer 11

being popular was crucial to the identity of 13-14 year old girls.
faced tension between the transition from a girls’ friendship culture into a heterosexual dating culture: an idealised feminine identity of showing loyalty , or a sexualised identity that involved competing for boys

Question 12

female peer groups: currie

Answer 12

girls perform balancing act between being slut shamed or frigid shaming

Question 13

female peer groups: reay

Answer 13

‘boffin identity’ asexual identity because girls who want to be successful educationally may feel the need to conform to the school’s notion of ideal feminine pupil identity - presenting themselves as lacking any interest in boyfriends or popular fashion.

Question 14

female peer groups: francis

Answer 14

MC female boffins may respond by defining other WC girls as chavs

Question 15

teachers and disclipline: haywood and mac an ghaill

Answer 15

male teachers tell 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 of girls and even blamed girls for it

Question 16

teachers and discipline: asker and ross

Answer 16

male teachers behaviour can subtly reinforce messages about gender. e.g male teachers often have a protective attitude toward female colleagues, coming into their classes to ‘rescue’ them by threatening pupils who are being disruptive - reinforces the idea that women can’t cope alone