Monthly Archives: November 2016

Take One For The Team: Date Your Local School Shooter?

Urban Adolescents

“But equally important may be the role of a female friend, a potential, if not actual “girlfriend”. Five of the high school shooters had what they felt was serious girl trouble, especially with rejection. It may be that they boys who are best able to resist the torments of incessant bullying, gay-baiting, and marginalization are those who have some girls among their friends, and perhaps even a girlfriend – that is, girls who can also validate their sense of masculinity (which other boys can do as well) as well as their heterosexuality (which boys alone cannot do)” (Kimmel 108)

I chose this excerpt from Michael Kimmel’s piece I am not insane: I am angry, because I could not find myself advocating for what he proposed. Why does the burden of validating a potential school shooter’s sexuality and masculinity fall on females? Continue reading Take One For The Team: Date Your Local School Shooter? →

Circle YES or NO

Gender Socialization & Identities

“If your mind’s not there [in class], it’ll do no good to try and concentrate—write it [the note] and get back to class with the conflict off your mind; at least you know that the person will know your feelings and then you can do your work.”

An excerpt from Sadowski’s “Adolescents at School: Perspectives on Youth, Identity, and Education” (2008) Continue reading Circle YES or NO →

The Gender War in Education

Gender Socialization & Identities, ,

“We categorize for the sake of argument, clarity, and for ease of thinking, but sometimes our categories cause problems and keep us from seeing the students before us.”

While Chapter 5 in Adolescents at School dissects the psychological  as well as the gender norm differences between boy and girl students that teachers should be aware of, I was reminded of how hyper aware students are aware of these gender differences. Continue reading The Gender War in Education →

The Effect of Gender Based Expectations on Self Perception

Gender Socialization & Identities

When girls do well on a test- particularly in math and science – they tend to report that maybe the exam was easy or that they just got lucky that day. And if they don’t do well they say that they have never been good at that subject, or that its very difficult for them…these findings seem to support Gilligan’s data showing that girls become unsure of themselves in adolescence, particularly in male dominated domains (as math and science traditionally have been) (Sadowski, 88). Continue reading The Effect of Gender Based Expectations on Self Perception →