Given the growing interest and representation of superheroes in comics and other media, we are interested in the ways young people read superhero texts and how those readings influence their conceptualisations of gender within and outside educational spaces. In this article we explore students' responses to (re)presentations of gender in superhero…

Sexual harassment is a common experience among middle and high school students across the United States. Being the target of and even witnessing sexual harassment is associated with a number of negative consequences for adolescents. This study sought to explore early adolescent boys' and girls' reasoning about (a) perpetrating sexual harassment…

Sexualized gender stereotypes (SGS) are commonly endorsed by adolescent girls. These stereotypes include the notion that girls can enhance their social status by prioritizing their sexualized attractiveness, which necessitates downplaying other traits such as intelligence. According to the stereotype emulation hypothesis, a girl will be more…

This study explored age-related changes in Chinese and Korean children's fairness judgments and reasoning regarding the gendered division of household labor. The majority of previous research on this issue has focused on adults' experiences and has been conducted in Western countries. Interviews were conducted with 133 children, 65 Chinese and 68…

Gender equality in the workplace and social life has been argued especially since industrialization. Despite the belief that the education profession is suitable for women, the education sector has been one of the most discussed sectors due to the low number of female managers. Doubtless, gender stereotypes and attitudes toward women contribute to…

Popular culture is omnipresent in the lives of young children. The mass media, movies, television, and product advertising all carry messages about acceptability and desirability, deeply entangled with traditional stereotypes about gender, sex-roles, and sexuality. The intersection of discourses of media, gender, and performativity and their…

Two studies (conducted in 2013) examined whether elementary-aged children endorse a within-gender stereotype about sexualized girls. In Study 1, children (N = 208) ages 6-11 rated sexualized girls as more popular but less intelligent, athletic, and nice compared to nonsexualized girls. These distinctions were stronger for girls and older children,…

Gendered expectations are deeply embedded within the fabric of a society and the classroom is no exception; binaries habitually pervade attitudes, practices and pedagogies. This small-scale qualitative-interpretive study, undertaken in one rural primary school in North Wales, explores how the learning of gender is constructed, enacted and…

This paper argues that in order to begin loosening the ties that bind care and gender in primary education, we need to re-examine the knowledge sought and found by educational research about teachers. The focus is primarily on how we understand men who teach. Through an examination of two scholarly texts -- Ashley, M., and J. Lee [2003.…

Boys are more physically active than girls and the greatest gender difference in children's physical activity is found in institutional settings such as school recess. However, research on gender relations, performances and practices that maintain gendered differences in physical activity during recess is still limited. Drawing on a qualitative…

In the current study, 45 girls and 41 boys participated in focus groups following a program designed to teach them about social justice. The children articulated the discrepancy between their own gender identity and gender role stereotypes and discussed potential problems with conforming to gender role expectations as well as consequences of…

This study examines change and the conditions of change in the masculinity of Olli, a working-class Finnish school boy. It explores "respect" as a status bound to masculine reputation, resources for obtaining respect in gendered identity work, and the negotiation of power in peer relations. I discuss how a "banal balancer"…

The purpose of this study was to measure music teachers' attitudes toward transgender individuals and toward school practices that support transgender students. Participants (N = 612) included men and women who teach a variety of music subjects in elementary, middle, and high schools, in urban, suburban, and rural areas. An online questionnaire…

Few men choose to become primary school teachers. Those who do move into a world often thought of as feminized and contend with a publicly-voiced rhetoric which simultaneously idealizes and demonizes them. This paper turns a spotlight on one student's stories of being a man and a student primary school teacher. It considers how he negotiates the…

Men who choose to do "women's work" and enter the female culture of the primary school can often initially face a range of stereotyped responses to their choice. Drawing on stories from a small sample of trainee and serving male teachers, we adopt the term "identity bruising" to describe the "knock backs" that occur…