Page 129 - Šolsko polje, XXXI, 2020, 5-6: Teaching Feminism, ed. Valerija Vendramin
P. 129
m. hrženjak ■ sporty boys and fashion girls ...
a boy or man in a subordinate relationship to their peers who possess these
characteristics.
The concept of hegemonic masculinity sheds light on the identity
challenges of boys who in the sensitive teenage period must construct and
demonstrate their gender identity in the “right” way. They have to avoid
everything normatively constructed as “girlish” (like an interest in fash-
ion, take care of one’s looks), and at the same time to nurture the ‘“mascu-
line looks” of a firm, tough and muscular body that establishes and asserts
itself in team collective sports as shown by studies of young boys (Frosh
et al., 2002), especially football. Research shows that peer pressure exerts
basic social control by constructing boys who conform to the dominant
gender norms as popular, and those who transgress these norms as subor-
dinate. The answers of teenage boys and girls, when asked which boys are
the most popular at school and why, show how hegemonic masculinity is
defined in peer culture. Our study, as well as some other studies (ibid.),
give very similar answers in this segment. Boys largely agreed that the
most popular among their schoolmates are those who express rebellious-
ness, opposition to school discipline and disdain for study achievements,
excellence in sports, especially football, while contributing to this are also
body size and figure along with a clothing style that expresses toughness,
nonchalance and rebelliousness. The price that is paid by the subordinate
boys, for example, those who prefer to associate with girls or stand out in
terms of their bodies for their small size, weight or other special charac-
teristics of the body, who do not like football but prefer conversation, who
take care of their looks in an inappropriate way, such as wearing make-up
instead of doing sports, is exclusion from the peer group, derision, some-
times physical violence. Studies conducted in English schools show that
boys’ peer group often punishes the schoolmate who deviates from the
dominant norms of masculinity through verbal and psychological vio-
lence so that their peers make fun of them that he is gay or a girl (ibid.,
p. 76). This on one hand represents the feminisation of boys who deviate
from the dominant norms of masculinity, with which the peer group es-
tablishes the “normal” boyness as opposed to girliness. In this way, fem-
ininity is established as radical and inferior “otherness” of masculinity.
At the same time, these are homophobic practices that strengthen “nor-
mal” boyness through normative heterosexuality. The effect of such deri-
sion is twofold: the exclusion of the boy who transgresses the norms of he-
gemonic masculinity too obviously and the strengthening of the existing
gender norms for those who do not transgress them. The space for alter-
native ways that would not be caught up in gender binarism is thus closed
(Hrženjak, 2011). The concept of hegemonic masculinity thereby points
127
a boy or man in a subordinate relationship to their peers who possess these
characteristics.
The concept of hegemonic masculinity sheds light on the identity
challenges of boys who in the sensitive teenage period must construct and
demonstrate their gender identity in the “right” way. They have to avoid
everything normatively constructed as “girlish” (like an interest in fash-
ion, take care of one’s looks), and at the same time to nurture the ‘“mascu-
line looks” of a firm, tough and muscular body that establishes and asserts
itself in team collective sports as shown by studies of young boys (Frosh
et al., 2002), especially football. Research shows that peer pressure exerts
basic social control by constructing boys who conform to the dominant
gender norms as popular, and those who transgress these norms as subor-
dinate. The answers of teenage boys and girls, when asked which boys are
the most popular at school and why, show how hegemonic masculinity is
defined in peer culture. Our study, as well as some other studies (ibid.),
give very similar answers in this segment. Boys largely agreed that the
most popular among their schoolmates are those who express rebellious-
ness, opposition to school discipline and disdain for study achievements,
excellence in sports, especially football, while contributing to this are also
body size and figure along with a clothing style that expresses toughness,
nonchalance and rebelliousness. The price that is paid by the subordinate
boys, for example, those who prefer to associate with girls or stand out in
terms of their bodies for their small size, weight or other special charac-
teristics of the body, who do not like football but prefer conversation, who
take care of their looks in an inappropriate way, such as wearing make-up
instead of doing sports, is exclusion from the peer group, derision, some-
times physical violence. Studies conducted in English schools show that
boys’ peer group often punishes the schoolmate who deviates from the
dominant norms of masculinity through verbal and psychological vio-
lence so that their peers make fun of them that he is gay or a girl (ibid.,
p. 76). This on one hand represents the feminisation of boys who deviate
from the dominant norms of masculinity, with which the peer group es-
tablishes the “normal” boyness as opposed to girliness. In this way, fem-
ininity is established as radical and inferior “otherness” of masculinity.
At the same time, these are homophobic practices that strengthen “nor-
mal” boyness through normative heterosexuality. The effect of such deri-
sion is twofold: the exclusion of the boy who transgresses the norms of he-
gemonic masculinity too obviously and the strengthening of the existing
gender norms for those who do not transgress them. The space for alter-
native ways that would not be caught up in gender binarism is thus closed
(Hrženjak, 2011). The concept of hegemonic masculinity thereby points
127
