This article discusses how the friendship circles of 38 schoolboys in New Zealand influence what they consider acceptable language and behaviour. Six focus group sessions were held with heterosexual and self-identified queer students aged between thirteen and eighteen to explore their interpretations, meanings and usage of homosexually themed…

This paper revisits the missing discourse of female desire [Fine, M. 1988. Sexuality, schooling and adolescent females: The missing discourse of desire. "Harvard Educational Review" 58, no. 1: 29-53] in secondary schools. Instead of echoing previous studies that have documented how female desire is missing, this research starts from the…

Reports data from a nationwide survey of New Zealand high school students and staff that examined their attitudes toward lesbian/gay/bisexual students. Most respondents perceived that lesbian/gay/bisexual students were not safe at school and that these students experienced subtle and extreme forms of intimidation. However, many students and staff…