Pupil sexual identities and gender identities Flashcards
What is Connell’s (1995) definition of hegemonic masculinity?
The dominance of heterosexual masculine identities over feminine and gay identities
What is the double standard?
Lees (1993) - Boys being able to boast about their sexual exploits without fear of criticism from their peers or male teachers, whereas a girl is called a slag if she doesn’t have a steady boyfriend or dresses a certain way and their promiscuity is given a negative label.
What perspective sees double standards as patriarchal ideology that is a form of social control that justifies male power whilst devaluing femininity?
Feminists
What does verbal abuse do for pupils’ sexual and gender identities?
- Connell - a rich vocabulary of abuse used to reinforce dominant sexual and gender identities
State 3 examples of verbal abuse
- Lees (1986) Boys calling girls slags if they appeared sexually available and drags if they weren’t
- Paetcher - ‘gay’, ‘lezzie’
- Parker (1996) - boys were labelled gay if they were friendly with girls or female teachers.
What is the male gaze?
Mac an Ghaill - the way boys and male teachers view girls as sexual objects and make judgements about their appearance; form of surveillance in which hegemonic masculinity is reinforced and femininity is devalued
How did Mac n Ghaill explain how male peer groups reinforce ideal masculinity?
Macho lad in secondary school - w/c, call other boys who are w/c who aspired to get m/c jobs as ‘dickhead achievers’ vs m/c ‘Real Englishman’ - effortless achiever
Which sociologists claimed that the definition of masculinity changed from the macho lad to the real Englishman in order to reflect the m/c composition of sixth form?
Redman and Mac n Ghaill
What were the two feminine identities that w/c girls face in Ringrose’s 2013 study?
Idealised feminine identity - ‘girls girl’, loyal to the friend group, non-competitive and got along with everyone in friendship culture
The sexualised identity - girls competing for boys in dating culture
What were female peer groups’ responses to these two identities?
Too competitive = slut shaming; too uninterested in boys = frigid
Shaming = form of social control to police and regulate girls’ behaviour
What is a boffin?
Nerd - girls who want to succeed educationally but feel pressured to conform to the school’s ideal feminine identity which is asexual with little interest with boys or fashion
What is a potential response m/c boffins give to w/c girls giving them that label?
Calling w/c girls chavs
How did Haywood and Mac n Ghaill expand on Mac n Ghaill’s point about male teachers?
- Ignored male’s verbal abuse towards girls and blamed girls for attracting it
How did Mac n Ghaill explain how male teachers reinforce hegemonic masculinity?
Telling boys off for behaving like girls an making fun off them if they got lower test scores than boys
How did Askew and Ross (1988) note how male teachers subtly reinforce attitudes about gender?
Male teachers had a protective attitude towards female teachers, often ‘rescuing’ them from disruptive students by disciplining them.
