“Be a man”: boys’ talk about gender in families

IF 2.1 Q2 SOCIOLOGY NORMA Pub Date : 2023-01-09 DOI:10.1080/18902138.2022.2164668
Diloshini Govender, Deevia Bhana
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper draws from an ethnographic study of 8–9-year-old primary school boys’ construction of masculinities. We focus on a group of Indian and black school boys situated in a working class setting in South Africa. In their narratives, the family emerged as one of the central organising sites for the social production and reproduction of masculinity. While masculinities are produced within a broader social and cultural context, this paper gives significance to family dynamics in shaping and reinforcing young masculinities. We show that while boys address family in relation to the reification of gender binaries and hegemonic patterns related to gender roles, sexuality and violence, their performances of masculinities were not entirely reiterative of these norms. Instead, boys actively challenged, negotiated and resisted dominant norms hence destabilising homogenous conceptualisations of children as passive recipients of received knowledge and oppressed power. We foreground young boys’ agency in their negotiation of masculinities and further demonstrate how the broader historical and social forces of race, class and culture intersect with dominant gender discourses within the context of families to enable plural versions of masculinities.
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“做一个男人”:男孩在家庭中谈论性别
摘要本文采用民族志研究方法,对8-9岁小学男生的男性气质建构进行研究。我们关注的是一群生活在南非工人阶级环境中的印度和黑人男孩。在他们的叙述中,家庭成为社会生产和男性气质再现的中心组织场所之一。虽然男子气概是在更广泛的社会和文化背景下产生的,但本文认为家庭动态在塑造和强化年轻男子气概方面具有重要意义。我们发现,虽然男孩在处理家庭问题时,将性别二元和与性别角色、性行为和暴力有关的霸权模式具体化,但他们表现出的男子气概并不是完全重复这些规范。相反,男孩积极挑战、谈判和抵制主流规范,从而破坏了将儿童视为接受知识和被压迫权力的被动接受者的同质概念。我们展望了年轻男孩在男性气质谈判中的能动性,并进一步展示了种族、阶级和文化的更广泛的历史和社会力量如何与家庭背景下的主导性别话语交叉,从而实现男性气质的多元版本。
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来源期刊
NORMA
NORMA Social Sciences-Gender Studies
CiteScore
3.00
自引率
14.30%
发文量
23
期刊介绍: NORMA is an international journal for high quality research concerning masculinity in its many forms. This is an interdisciplinary journal concerning questions about the body, about social and textual practices, and about men and masculinities in social structures. We aim to advance theory and methods in this field. We hope to present new themes for critical studies of men and masculinities, and develop new approaches to ''intersections'' with race, sexuality, class and coloniality. We are eager to have conversations about the role of men and boys, and the place of masculinities, in achieving gender equality and social equality. The journal was begun in the Nordic region; we now strongly invite scholarly work from all parts of the world, as well as research about transnational relations and spaces. All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editors, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. All peer review is double blind and submission is online via Editorial Manager.
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