Dumisani and Nzwakie Maphanga (Siya and Mpilo) thank you for being my family away from home and for your invaluable friendship; Ms. Meera Levine, Phil (and the ankle biters) thank you for being my other family away from home and for your generous support and encouragement; Mrs.
Introduction
For example, Morrell (1999) observed this in the context of the violent apartheid school system. The thesis attempts to present the voices of boys in defining their masculine identity.
Rationale for the Study
School selection was also informed by Mac an Ghail's view of schools as "sites for the production of sexual/gender subjectivities, where people conform to, deviate from, challenge, participate in, and engage in gendered productions every day" (p. 2) . Morrell (1999) argues, "It is not always easy to measure changes in gender practices...one way to identify change is to examine the discursive construction of masculinity and look for contradictory features that may herald emergent, progressive masculinities." p. 9).
Focus of Study
Organisation of Dissertation
In the following subsections I discuss and describe how I went about the different aspects of the research. Each of the students was given the opportunity to participate in the selection process. Finally, 8 of the 15 focus group members were asked to participate in an individual interview.
Not all students who attend the school live in the immediate vicinity or in the municipality. The language barrier was also a challenge that I experienced both in the development of the study and in the implementation of the research.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
In other words, many young boys copy the behavior they see older boys and men perform. Some boys and men are forced to behave one way in public, under the supervision of peers and adults.
Overview of Masculinities
The majority in the group who do not belong to dominant or subordinate positions of masculinity are said to perform complicit masculinity. The focus of this research project is on subordinate masculinity and how dominant masculinity is directly implicated in those constructions.
Subordinate Masculinities, Compulsory Heterosexuality, and Schooling
It does not help the situation that, in schools and elsewhere, heterosexuality is seen as "normal" and "natural". In many cases sexuality is "invisible" in the formal and hidden curriculum of schools (Lesko, 2000; Mac an Ghail, 1994). Although implied, what is not clear or fully developed in the literature is that boys who perform dominant masculine identities need so-called.
Gender and Masculinities
One perceived reason for this cautionary approach is the essentialist emphasis of sex-role theory on sexual performance based on biological sex characteristics. Although caution is warranted, the inclusion of gender roles in this dissertation as a basis for gender analysis provides a contextualized discourse on essential points relevant to performances of masculinity, not only in literature but also in the lived experiences of participants.
Race and Masculinities
Masculinities, race, gender, and youth in South Africa
According to Campbell (2001), operating under the dual and highly compatible systems of patriarchy and gender roles for black South African men in the mining industry, the performance of masculinity was calculated through high risk taking. This is based on a number of reasons, including nowhere in the literature reviewed does the role that schools play, particularly in the construction and performance of Black masculinity.
Conclusion
CJ: 16-year-old, 10th grade student, who lives in the municipality in the immediate vicinity of the school. Based on these observations and using convenience sampling, I asked 20 male students to participate in focus group discussions. Following a format similar to focus group discussions, individual interviews were conducted as the next step in the research process.
The same instructions were repeated to the research participants who participated in individual interviews. Data were limited to responses to focus group questions and individual interviews.
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This research is concerned with how a group of boys (young men), who attend a township school in the greater Durban area in South Africa, understand masculinity, and how they construct and perform such masculinity in school. And what impact does this exclusion have on them and their learning in school.
Research Design
- Sample Size and Sampling Procedure
- Description of participants
- Observations
- Focus group discussions
- Individual semi-structured interviews
- Journaling
Common: 14-year-old, 9th grade student, who lives in the municipality, but uses public transport to get to school due to the distance. Kralj: 14-year-old, 9th grade student, who stays with family friends in a settlement near the school.
Research Site
Four areas (rooms) of the school are important to discuss because of their importance during the research process. One of the first areas I used as an observation point for the project was the school entrance.
Data Analysis
Reliability and Validity
Limitations
Conclusion
From the data it can be concluded that there is a process in which they actively learn how to be "real men". Multiple early learning variables together play a role in shaping how respondents learned what men do as a way of understanding their masculine identities. For example, one participant states that the male students who belong to this group are called: "Cheese boys, upusu (which is the same as cheese boys). If he's the one who came to me, he must be the one who wants me protect.
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
Based on the data collected from the participants' answers to these questions, the study concludes with implications for what can be done in the education system and the school to address the situation of boys and girls who are negatively affected by dominant masculinities in their contexts. The last section deals with the core of this study: the ways in which the participants understand, construct and perform their masculine identities in the school environment are presented.
Locating the Self
For example, one participant responded that “being a man is when you're like having a penis and all these things” (Maklash, focus group, 2007). You know that when you are a man you have to be sexually active, because let's say you have a wife or a girlfriend.
Development of Early Masculine Identities
- Family
- Media
- Church
- School
- Gender roles
In the next subsection, I present the participants' understandings of gender roles as signifiers of masculine identities. Common: - Mina [me], I think 50-50 is wrong, because if we had 50-50, it means that there would be more gay people, because like if you give ... you make a man a nurse, you tell a man to be soft, to be gentle, and these are not the qualities of a man.
Masculinities Go to School
- Dominant masculinities
- Complicit masculinities
- Subordinate masculinities
- Non-conformists
- Stylish and studious
- Effeminate and gay
- Room for all
To illustrate, respondents in the study were asked to identify male students' dominant male performances. As such, in the eyes of this and other students in the school, gay is equal to girl.
Summary and Conclusion
The first research question was asked: How do boys in the research project understand, define and perform masculinity. The respondents in the study alluded to placing a significant amount of weight on familial social influence of constructions and performances of masculinity. Finally, the inclusion of female-bodied learners in the study would have furthered many aspects of the research and especially the public/private dichotomy that male learners experience when addressing issues of masculinity.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Introduction
In response, the participants in this study tended to define their own masculinity in terms of an ideal masculinity based on being a "real man" or "not a real man." For this purpose, the following emerged: patient, expensive, status, possessions, sacrifice, sexually active and married as characteristics that respondents stated as ideal characteristics of being a man. Isolation, ridicule, object of bullying, and the performance of inauthentic or inappropriate behavior are some of the problems faced by learners identified in this category.
Discussion
In response, male peers who were not deemed to perform subordinate masculinity were the primary instigators of policing and enforcing strict gender codes of masculinity performances. Similar to literature on masculinity (Lesko, 2000; Mac an Ghail, 1994), the participants stated that female and gay learners were overwhelmingly isolated from other male peer groups.
Implications
Policy
Therefore, tertiary level training on gender dynamics in the classroom should be required for all new teachers. In addition, the National Department of Education should commission studies on gender and sexuality in classrooms to expand on the information obtained in this study.
Curriculum content
Also, a national hotline should be created so that students who are bullied, based on gender or sexual inequalities, have a place to report and reconcile problems that arise both at school and at home.
Practice
Furthermore, school leaders should seek to establish safe places in the school where any student can go when they experience challenges based on gender relations. Another example would be to establish suggestion boxes throughout the school where students are encouraged to ask questions, report violations or make suggestions for changes; this can be done either anonymously or directly.
Conclusion
After the training, peer leaders would be responsible for collecting the information from the boxes on a daily basis and making arrangements with the school administration to address issues raised by other students. I have requested and received permission from the school principal to make formal and informal visits to the school for the purpose of balanced observation.
LETTER TO PARENT AND CONSENT FORM
Noma ungathintana nomphathi wami uDkt Moletsane kule nombolo noma uthumele i-imeyili [email protected].
FOCUS GROUP PROTOCOL
Probe to identify characteristics of male students that participants do not consider to be "real men".). Do you think sanctions are necessary for boys who don't behave like real men?
VIGNETTES WITH QUESTIONS
INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW
Students only have access to the computer room if they are in the computer technology class. The focus of this study was on boys' understanding of masculinities in a township high school in the Durban region. To illustrate the range and causes of subordinate masculinities among study participants, the following subsections examine examples from the data.
Not all subordinate masculinities were constructed and/or performed equally and did not carry the same weight among study participants. In the research country, more students are taught at home, church, media and community than men.
