Pupils sexual and gender identites(Gender Differences in Education)

Question 1

Double Standards: pupils sexual and gender identities

Answer 1

Lees (1993)- for gender identity, she
found a double standard of sexual
morality. Boys boast about sexual
exploits but call girls slags for not having
a steady boyfriend/dressing a certain
way.
* Feminists see this double standard of
boys gaining status from the same
acts/boasts that girls are shamed for as
patriarchal ideology. It justifies male
power and devalues women.

Question 2

Verbal Abuse

Answer 2

Connell says this is one the ways
dominant gender and sexual identities
are reinforced, like boys using cat-calling
to put girls down for dressing a certain
way.
* Lees (1986)- found boys call girls slags if
they appeared to be sexually available,
and drags if they weren’t.
* Paechter- name calling helps shape
gender identity and reinforces male
power (such as gay, queer, lezzie).
Paechter notes the labels don’t reflect pupil’s
actual sexual behaviour, and simply serve
the function of reinforcing gender
norms/identities.

Question 3

Teachers Discipline :Pupils sexual and gender identities

Answer 3

Research shows that teachers have
a role in reinforcing dominant
definitions of gender identity.
* Mac an Ghaill (1996)- found
male teacher would tease and tell
of boys for acting ‘like girls’.
* Teachers would also ignore boys
verbally abusing girls, or would
blame the girls for it.
* Askew & Ross (1988)- this
shows how male teacher’s
behaviour subtly reinforces
messages about gender.

Question 4

Archer: Female Peer Groups

Answer 4

Archer- shows how WC girls gain symbolic capital from their peers with a hyper-heterosexual feminine identity.
Ringrose (2013)- study of WC 13/14 year olds found being popular
was crucial to the girls’ identity:
* An idealised feminine identity- showing loyalty to female peer
groups, being non-competitive and getting along with everyone.
* A sexualised identity- competing for boys in the dating culture.

Question 5

Currie et al sexual and gender identities(Female Peer groups-policing identity)

Answer 5

though the sexualised identity gets them
symbolic capital, it’s risky as girls have to balance the 2 identities, too-competitive girls were slut-shamed and girls not competing
were ‘frigid-shamed’.
Reay (2011)- girls wanting to do well at school had to perform an a sexual boffin identity, causing the other girls to exclude them.

Question 6

Male peer groups: pupils sexils

Answer 6

Male groups also use verbal abuse to reinforce their
masculinity, like boys in anti-school subcultures
labelling boys who want to do well as gay.
Mac an Ghaill (1994)- study examines how pupils
produce different classed-based gender identities:
* WC ‘macho lads’- dismissive of the WC boys who
work hard, labelling them ‘dickhead achievers’.
* MC ‘real Englishmen’- project an image of effortless
achievement even if some have to work hard on the
quiet.
The definition of masculinity for these groups was
different, for the WC it was toughness, and for the MC
it was intellectual ability.

Question 7

The Male Gaze

Answer 7

This is the visual aspect in the way pupils control each
other’s identities.
* Mac an Ghaill- this is the male gaze- how male
teachers/pupils look at girls, see them as sexual objects
and make judgements about their appearance.
* Male gaze is a form of surveillance that dominant
heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity is
devalued.
* This is one way boys reinforce their masculinity,
bragging about sexual conquests and telling stories- if
they don’t, they risk being labelled as gay.

Question 8

interpeting qurestion some questions about gender expereinces in school

Answer 8

achievement subject chocie and identity
while others limit you in some way for instance to just achievement or jsut subject choice