In a global context where children are increasingly exposed to hostile humour in cartoons like Adventure Time and Spongebob Squarepants, it is not surprising that we see this play out in school settings. More concerning, however, is how teachers can misuse their position of power to wield such forms of humour against students who dare to question…

Drawing on ethnographic multi-modal data of the gendered and sexual dynamics of pre-school play (age 6) in a rapidly declining fishing and farming community in North Finland, this paper offers a glimpse into our sense-making of a short video-recorded episode in which three boys repeatedly pile up on and demand a kiss from one of their girl…

Advocates for boys' education have forwarded numerous "fixes" for boys' supposed educational woes, including both academic and non-academic programs and strategies. This article focuses on the lesser-discussed non-academic, extra-curricular means suggested, specifically outdoor education. Using qualitative analysis of an Australian…

This paper draws on research on masculinities to examine poetry as a socially and culturally gendered genre. Situated in the context of the current "crisis" around boys' underachievement in school, attention is drawn to the problematic understanding of poetry as an unsuitable genre for boys. Attention is further drawn to the way in which poetry,…

In this paper we do two things. Initially, we explore the experience of gender and sexuality non-conformity for boys in school. Here, the designation sissy boy is interpreted through shame dynamics produced in part by the linguistic violence of designation. From this we consider the development of what we call epistemophilic resolutions--the…

Issues of gender equity in English secondary schools over the last decade have been dominated by a concern with the "under-achievement" of boys, implicitly acknowledging the apparent success of strategies developed in schools in previous decades to improve equality of opportunity for girls. This paper presents evidence to challenge this…

Despite calls for a more nuanced approach to issues of gender and equity that recognizes how broader relations of gender and power continue to produce injustices for many females, essentialized accounts expressing concern about boys' poor educational performance remain the most common refrain in dominant equity discourses across Western contexts.…