While developing scholarship around children's horror fiction has focused on the works of contemporary writers, this essay provides a close reading of the novels of John Bellairs, a leading and early practitioner of the genre. It argues that the first three novels in his Lewis Barnevelt series may be understood as addressing some of the same…

Scholars have sought to identify the complexity and multidimensionality of the phenomenon of sexual identity formation since the American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973 (Bayer, 1981). This article addresses the manner in which the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer [LGBTQ]…

When I was contacted by the editors of "Gender and Education" to see whether I wanted to respond to this article, I was not particularly keen to do so. I generally believe that critique is a good thing, and that direct responses have a tendency to come over as precious, petulant, and petty. However, having read the article several times, and…

In this issue, P. Hegarty comments on an article by G. Rieger, J. A. W. Linsenmeier, L. Gygax, and J. M. Bailey (2008) that compared videos of homosexual and heterosexual people from childhood and adulthood. The current authors claim it is reasonable to treat masculinity-femininity as a bipolar scale and present justification for the approach used…

This essay comments on the emotional difficulties psychoanalytic discussion introduces to conceptualising the poesis of gender through its reconsideration of the valence of aggression and its development in psychical reality. It returns to the 1936 lectures on the emotional life of gender given by Melanie Klein and Joan Riviere to a public about…

The present article attempts to pay attention to the ways in which a group of young Cypriot students engage in the construction of conventional notions of masculinities through the negation and the fear of homosexual desire. Drawing on interviews with 12 male and female university students, I argue that many young men go through complicated…

In this commentary, the author reviews methodological and conceptual shortcomings of recent articles by K. D. Drummond, S. J. Bradley, M. Peterson-Badali, and K. J. Zucker (2008) as well as G. Rieger, J. A. W. Linsenmeier, L. Gygax, and J. M. Bailey (2008), which sought to predict adult sexual identity from childhood gender identity. The author…

Presents a theory of the connections between disabilities and gender, arguing that because bodies are so central to gender, people with disabilities are vulnerable to being denied gender recognition. Though both sexes experience devaluation and discrimination when disabled, being disabled further diminishes women's already devalued status. For…

This paper is basically about terminology. In it I discuss the terms "masculinity" and "femininity" and how they relate to being male and being female. My theme arises from an increasing difficulty that I am finding in understanding how individual identities relate to dominant constructions of masculinity and femininity. Christine Skelton and…

Explores the use of dance in physical education as a pedagogical tool for examining heterosexual male embodiment. Discusses how dance offers the potential for disruptive, discomforting, and pleasurable experiences that illustrate how bodies carry and construct gendered meanings. Contains 50 references. (SK)

Very few large-scale research projects involving lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth have taken place in South Africa. However, there have been several important small-scale studies. One of the major obstacles that researchers of LGB youth encounter in South Africa is the lack of access to these adolescents. There are no national networks for social…

Discourses of concern about boys' schooling do not address complexities of boys' lives. Critical scholarship in masculinities highlights the effects of heteronormative privilege and offers alternative practices. A focus on the social gendered performance of boys rather than the claim that girls get too much attention may be more productive.…

Argues that schools are highly sexualized sites, within which struggles around sexuality are pervasive, of consuming interest and, at the same time, taboo. Suggests that struggles around gender, explicit homophobia, and implicit heterosexism within schools derive from and feed macho and misogynistic versions of masculinity. Argues that sexism in…

More than any other recent social theorist, constructing a disquisition on Butler's ideas draws the writer into speculating on the formation of their own intellectual grammar, perhaps to confront the disconcerting truth of how often their own cherished analytical rationality is broken up by glimpses into the imagination of more provocative…

Addresses the problems associated with constructing masculinity as a monolithic category, and offers a particular pedagogical approach designed to open up the examination, legitimation, and valorization of alternative subject positions for high school boys in the English classroom. The author also translates feminist poststructural theoretical…