Much of the work on body image socialization masks the potentially unique influence of different socializers, yet clearer understanding of socialization mechanisms and ideological context aid intervention efforts. We explored how fathers, female peers, male peers, and adolescent boys themselves produce different levels of internalized…

Despite the existing gender stereotypes associated with science and masculinity, there are some female teachers in secondary co-educational schools in Bangladesh who are contesting this normative discourse by taking up a profession in the science field. This research is an attempt to make visible lived gendered experiences of female science…

Many studies have shown the importance of the socio-cultural factors that lead girls to desert scientific and technological courses. Over a long period, the contents of the French technology education (TE) college curricula may well have contributed to strengthening the feeling among girls that this discipline was better suited to boys. The choice…

Drawing on cross-cultural qualitative research in comprehensive (primary and middle) schools in Finland and Korea, this article explores students' peer relationships as well as tensions and negotiations that occur between student agency and school control. Based on school observations and interviews with students and teachers, this article…

The close association between science and masculinity has been widely discussed, yet few studies have focused on boys' negotiation with, and participation in, school science. This paper seeks to trouble monolithic notions of the link between science and masculinity, arguing that the "ideal science student" is a classed, racialized, and…

Identity studies relating to writing in educational setting have tended to focus on the analysis of non-fiction texts. Aligning a Bakhtinian view of language with the concept of identity as participation in "figured worlds" [Holland et al. 1998, "Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds". London: Harvard University Press], this…

Exploring the diverse nature of students' interpretations of their reading experiences, this study moves beyond broad generalizations about boys and girls to consider complexities inherent in the social processes that influence students' engagement in reading. While the study aimed to develop understandings about the ways notions of masculinity…

This study examined sex differences in reading skill and reading motivation, investigating whether these differences could be better accounted for by sex, or by gender identity. One hundred and eighty-two primary school children (98 males) aged 8-11 completed a reading comprehension assessment, reading motivation questionnaire and a gender role…

The purpose of this study is to examine the contribution of gender to the academic self-perceptions of ability and related coursework plans for high school and college across academically advanced students. Participants were academically advanced students (N = 447) from grades 5 to 12. Findings revealed that (a) girls' self-perceptions of ability…

Recent research has documented the persistence of unequal gender relations and homophobia in young people's lives. Feminist post-structural theories of gender and socio-cultural theories of learning suggest educators need to understand students' constructions of gender relations, masculine/feminine desires, and sexuality if they hope to challenge…

Focusing on the experiences of boys who choose not to cultivate their masculinities through hegemonic discourses and practices, this paper seeks to empirically explore and theorize the extent to which it is possible to live out the category 'boy' in non-hegemonic ways in the primary school setting. Drawing upon a year-long ethnography of…

This paper draws on Matthew's story to illustrate the conflicting discourses of being a boy and being a student. Matthew is 12 years old and in Grade Six, his final year at Banrock Primary (a K-6 Australian State School). School is far from a happy place for Matthew--his tearful accounts of his combative relationships with his peers and his…