"Since she's really good, then the boys let her play" An intersectional perspective on how middle school students at an international school in Denmark (re)do gender through their participation in physical activity at breaktime
Author
Khandalavala, Lea Dina Stenskrog
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2024
Submitted on
2024-05-30
Pages
40
Abstract
This article explores how physical activity in the schoolyard shapes how middle school students at an international school express and renegotiate gender. Using an intersectional lens—that is, considering how gender interacts with factors such as sporting ability, age, and sex—it includes the perspectives of gender diverse students, who are often missing from earlier research. The study draws on sociological ideas about “doing” and “redoing” gender (everyday actions that enact or challenge gender norms), hegemonic masculinity (dominant ideals of masculinity), and emphasized femininity and alternative masculinities and femininities. It examines how these overlapping identities influenced who was included, excluded, or marginalized in physical activities. The findings show that hegemonic masculine and emphasized feminine ideals were widespread in the schoolyard and were seldom questioned. Although students described their schoolyard as inclusive, students of different genders did not always have equal opportunities to be physically active because of gender dynamics and intersecting identities.
Artiklen undersøger, hvordan fysisk aktivitet i skolegården påvirker, hvordan elever på mellemtrinnet på en international skole udtrykker og forhandler køn. Med et intersektionelt blik—det vil sige ved at se på, hvordan køn spiller sammen med faktorer som sportslige evner, alder og biologisk køn—inddrager studiet også perspektiver fra kønsdiverse elever, som ofte mangler i tidligere forskning. Undersøgelsen bygger på sociologiske begreber om at “gøre” og “gengøre” køn (hverdagshandlinger, der opretholder eller udfordrer kønsnormer), hegemonisk maskulinitet (dominerende idealer for maskulinitet) samt betonet femininitet og alternative femininiteter og maskuliniteter. Den ser på, hvordan disse overlappende identiteter påvirkede, hvem der blev inkluderet, udelukket eller marginaliseret i fysiske aktiviteter. Resultaterne viser, at hegemoniske maskuline og betonede feminine idealer var udbredte i skolegården og sjældent blev udfordret. Selvom eleverne beskrev skolegården som inkluderende, havde elever af forskellige køn ikke altid lige muligheder for at være fysisk aktive på grund af kønsdynamikker og sammenvævede identiteter.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]