So What's a Boy?: Addressing Issues of Masculinity and Schooling

325 Pages·2003·1.3 MB·English

by  Wayne Martino

So what's a boy? 7/3/03 12:17 PM Page 1
SSOO WWHHAATT’’SS AA
S
SO WHAT’S A BOY?
O
BBOOYY??

Addressing Issues of W
Masculinity and Schooling H
A
T
This book focuses on the impact and effects of masculinities on the lives
’
S
of boys at school.Through interviews with boys from diverse backgrounds,

the authors explore the various ways in which boys define and negotiate A
their masculinities at school.The following questions and issues are B
addressed: O
Y Addressing Issues of Masculinity and Schooling
• What does it mean to be a ‘normal’boy and who decides this? ?
• How do issues of masculinity impact on boys from culturally diverse
backgrounds, indigenous boys, those with disabilities and boys of
diverse sexualities?
• What issues of power impact on these boys’lives and relationships
W
at school?
a
• What effects do these issues have on boys’learning at school? yn
e

M
Through looking at the problems and examining the question of what a
r
makes a boy a boy, this fascinating title offers recommendations and tin
C
outlines directions for working with boys in schools in the future. over d o / M
e
Wayne Martinois Senior Lecturer in Education at Murdoch University in sig a
n r
:B ia
Western Australia. ark P
e
Maria Pallotta-Chiarolliis Senior Lecturer in Social Diversity and Health r/Hils allo
at Deakin University, Australia. don tta
-
C
h
ia
r
o
lli
Wayne Martino / Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli
(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:4)(cid:14)(cid:5)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:14)(cid:7)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:8)(cid:14)(cid:2)
www.openup.co.uk (cid:1) (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:5)(cid:6) (cid:7)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:8)(cid:1)
So what’s a boy?

So what’s a boy?
Addressing issues of
masculinity and schooling
Wayne Martino and
Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli
Open University Press
Maidenhead · Philadelphia
Open University Press
McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill House
Shoppenhangers Road
Maidenhead
Berkshire
England
SL6 2QL
email: [email protected]
world wide web: www.openup.co.uk
and
325 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
First published 2003
Copyright © Wayne Martino and Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli 2003
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of
criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency
Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained
from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London,
W1P 0LP.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 335 20381 7 (pb) 0 335 20382 5 (hb)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martino, Wayne.
So what’s a boy? : addressing issues of masculinity and schooling / Wayne
Martino and Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–335–20382–5 – ISBN 0–335–20381–7 (pbk.)
1. Boys – Education – Social aspects. 2. Masculinity. 3. Sex differences
in education – Social aspects. 4. Gender identity. I. Pallotta-Chiarolli, Maria,
1960–. II. Title.
LC1390 . M35 2003
371.823’41–dc21
2002042581
Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain by Biddles Limited, www.biddles.co.uk
Wayne would like to dedicate this book to his nephew, Hannes Kirchebner
who lives in Vienna.
Maria would like to dedicate this book to Rob Chiarolli for his nurturing,
loving and pro-feminist masculinity.
Wayne and Maria would also like to dedicate this book to all boys and young
men living on the borders.

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Preface xi
PART 1
Normalization and Schooling 1
1 ‘So what’s a boy?’ 3
Normalizing practices and borderland existences
2 ‘You have to be strong, big and muscular’ 14
Boys, bodies and masculinities
3 ‘That’s what normal boys do’ 32
Bullying and harassment in the lives of boys at school
4 ‘Getting into the cool group is like passing an exam’ 55
Boys talk about friendships at school
PART 2
Diverse Masculinities 73
5 ‘It was never openly talked about’ 75
The experiences of sexually diverse boys at school
6 ‘If you’re a wog you’re cool, but if you’re Asian you get
pickedon’ 101
Multiple masculinities and cultural diversity
7 ‘One of the main problems at school would be racism’ 131
Indigenous boys, masculinities and schooling
8 ‘You’re not a real boy if you’re disabled’ 159
Boys negotiating physical disability and masculinity in schools
viii CONTENTS
PART 3
Sites of Intervention 181
9 ‘There’s no opportunity for guys to get down and think
aboutwhatthey’redoing and why they are doing it’ 183
Boys interrogating ‘masculinity’ in schools
10 ‘It’s the politics of my school that upsets me’ 207
The rhetoric and realities of school policies, structures and
pedagogies
11 ‘I don’t like reading ... I like playing sport or being outside’ 239
Interrogating masculinities in English and physical education
12 ‘So what’s a healthy boy?’ 263
Health education as a site of risk, conformity and resistance
Conclusion 284
References 288
Index 307
Acknowledgements
First of all, we wish to thank the interviewees for their time, insights, honesty,
questions, good humour, inspiration and strength even while discussing
very difficult and traumatic experiences. We have really appreciated and
been strengthened by their encouragement of us and the work we are
doing.
We also wish to thank the many teachers, principals, parents and youth
workers around Australia who allowed us into their schools, homes and youth
groups to conduct the interviews, distribute transcripts to boys, and ensure
they were returned to us. Your support, patience and enthusiastic participation
in this project was much appreciated.
We would like to thank Maria Baira and Indigenous educators who
supported this project: Val Lenoy, Retz Oddy, Raba Solomon.
For transcribing 150 interviews: Pat Bentley and Geraldine Stack.
For technical support with taping/recording equipment: John Cooper,
Alan Cosstick, Cameron, Janice and others at Audiovisual Learning Resources
Services, Deakin University. We thank Tania Corbett, Secretary, Curriculum
Section, Murdoch University; Susan Vukovic, Information Technology
Services, Deakin Uni (Maria’s computer whiz!).
We also wish to thank Shona Mullen, our publisher at Open University
Press, for her patience as the research project kept unfolding and several unmet
deadlines faded into the past.
We also wish to thank Dr Dawn Butler for her useful comments and edit-
ing. Our thanks also to Eleanor Hayes and Barker/Hilsdon for consulting with
us in the development of the cover design, and Kevin Eaton from RefineCatch
for his thoughtful and attentive liaison with us regarding the proofs.
We would also like to acknowledge the funding and support offered for
this project by the School of Education, Murdoch University; and the Faculty
of Health and Behavioural Sciences, Deakin University.
We would also like to thank friends, family, significant others and
colleagues who supported us and the project, found contributors, provided
sound advice and encouragement, put up with our regular updates, and loved
us through it all.
We are grateful to our colleagues, friends and students in the School of
Education, Murdoch University and the Faculty of Health and Behavioural
Sciences, Deakin University who encouraged us, read drafts, directed us toward
relevant literature, and mercifully left us alone or allowed us to skip a meeting