Sunday, October 28, 2007
Discussion Prompt 1
Reflect upon the ways in which gender influenced the predispositions and positioning strategies enacted by the boys and men described by Davies and Martino . What are some of the ways in which they took up particular gendered positions without really thinking about them? How were their gendered understandings, positionings, and practices linked to particular texts and literacy practices? How did the instructional practices (or how would the suggestions for instructional practices) shape or reshape the students' "practiced identities" in relation to gender?
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6 comments:
In Martino’s article, the “cool” group of boys were really the dominant group in the school; they called the shots. Thus, they called the shots on what was an acceptable definition of masculinity, and how exactly you were expected to display it. For instance, these were the boys who were heavily into sports (football and surfing). This alone was one characteristic that defined a male’s masculinity. In addition, an opposition to femininity was another criterion that these boys created as a degree of masculinity. For instance, if a boy read a lot, hung out with girls a lot, expressed emotion, or did well in school, then they were deemed feminine or gay. Most boys in the study displayed the fear of being labeled so. Thus, the boys would make fun of you if you achieved well in school. If you did not fit into their policed form of masculinity, then you were ridiculed, called names and harassed—yet another form of their masculine criterion. Another way that this dominant group of boys displayed their masculinity was to be loud and disruptive in class. Interestingly, some boys who were interviewed for this study offered some suggestions for breaking down these masculinity rules that had been put up by the popular boys at school. One boy suggested that “…they [teachers] should start teaching us stuff that is related to us and that we need to know about, so like if a situation does occur and people are expected to do something, they can handle it more instead of just sitting there and going I have to do what these guys [the popular ones] say” (Martino 258). Further suggestions aim at using texts in class that brings up this notion of masculinity and to question its meaning and regimes. Discussing the impacts and effects of masculinity in schools is also important.
I also read Martino's article. As Heather said, the "cool" group as dominant in the school and kind of set the rules as what makes someone 'cool' or 'uncool.' I think a lot of the boys in this school go along with these ideas and fall into calling other boys names without even understanding why. I was reminded of my brother while reading this article. When he was in highschool he played basketball. When he played he was very popular and hung out with all the basketball and football guys. He still had other friend that did not play. His senior year, he decided not to play, and suddenly he wasn't friends with any of the basketball boys anymore; it was like they dropped him. Now, when he talks about it he says "They weren't my real friends. All they cared about and talked about was basketball and other sports. They were only friends with people who played sports too."
I feel like the group of boys that was stereotypically "cool" seemed to be the majority of the boy population. But I wonder how many of them even cared about sports that much and how many of either played because of peer pressure or because of pressure from another male influenece. Some of the boys who were interviewed pointed out that many of them go along with the "cool" group out of fear and so they don't get made fun of. If these few boys have these thoughts I'm sure there are many others who feel the same way and who don't share the beliefs of the dominant group. Why then don't they band together and overthrow the "cool" boys? If there are enough of them to branch off and have their own beliefs to form a modified cool group, then why can't they be the dominant group? I realize that society makes things the way they are and it's just the nature of kids, but I feel like there should be a better explanation. It's frutstating to read about kids succumbing to certain social expectations just because.
Michelle, I think that you brought up some good points in your response, especially when you wondered if the "cool boys" even cared about sports at all. I got to thinking that maybe this was something that they were expected to do. Maybe their family, especially their fathers took this path and expected their sons to live it as well. I think that the way you are raised definately contributes to your belief systems as well, so in turn, this goes hand in hand with why these boys are exhibiting these standards of masculinity; maybe their fathers are pushing them and expecting too much out of them. I think a lot of it has to do with how they want to be perceived by others--they want to feel and look popular. What do they have to lose? But, by whose standards are they popular, since I'm sure the kids that they harrass are not fond of them?
These ideas also play into pop culture and what the media is feeding these kids. While there are some celebrities going against it, the super skinny model figure is what girls are led to believe that they should aspire to. Those poor girls who chose Shania Twain as a role model and chose all the wrong things about her to imitate. Coming right out and saying they wanted to look "sleazy" really blew my mind. They're so young and don't really understand why "sleaze" may be appealing to anyone, they just picked up on the fact that it can be. Males are beginning to suffer from eating disorders too now! (not that a male never did, just that it's beginning to show up more) My 19 year old sister will struggle with everything she eats, deciding if she's already eaten too much that day or if she can afford something else (until she finds a bag of doritos). She also exercises all the time. She's always been incredibly active but now she's gone beyond her label as a "picky eater." It's sad because she's a beautiful girl and there's a lot more to her but the clothes she wears seem to suggest some otherwise (she told me a story about a guy who guessed she was "easy" while at a party, which was funny to her friends who know how she really is). Clearly she's being influenced by what someone else is deciding she should look like.
Prof. K-
I don't really feel that the boys in the article grew in direct relation to the teaching strategies employed - to attempt to reteach boys about the concept of gender and how they interact with/affected their peers (especially female). Instead, I felt that at the end of the article, the boys were still willing to take up a masculin-dominant position in order to asser their rightful position within the group - as well as to control other group members. For example, one girl felt particularly bad for being unattractive, if I am remembering correctly, and she was assisted in making this assumption in large part due to the infleunce that the opinion of the cool boys in the room had on all the other students.
I really didn't see any success in this example - as far as the boys were not fundamentally changing their reliance on the old patriachy - and their reliance on the patriarchy was giving them the rule of the roost, so to speak. I think it's hard tospecifically change literacy practices and teaching practices to prevent this outcome; since although a sensitive classroom may attempt to make these changes boys readily socialize themselves - each other - and are socialized into the hetero-masculine dominant world-view that has perpetuated itself for eons in human societies. It's too easy for men and boys to rely on such an easy and readily available source of referenct power to position themselves in order to ensure that their needs are met and their points of views are placated by others within the larger group (i.e., classroom).
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