Verbal abuse in school. Constructions of gender among 14‐ to 15‐year‐olds

Abstract

This thesis aims to describe and analyze gender and age patterns of verbal abuse among students, and how it is used in identity construction by girls and boys in social interaction in school. Two sets of data were used: a school-based survey (study I) and an observation and interview-based qualitative study (studies II-IV). The survey encompassed all 6 th and 8 th graders in a medium-sized Swedish city (n=1 006), and served to assess the gender and age-based prevalence of verbal abuse, and its effects on well-being. The qualitative study was conducted among 8 th grade students at two schools in the Stockholm area (127 hours of observations and 10 interviews). Through discourse analysis, it explored the role of verbal abuse in gender and age construction between same-age students in everyday interactions and examined students' own understanding of verbal abuse. The survey showed that verbal abuse is prevalent, more pronounced among 8 th graders, that boys experienced insults and threats to a greater extent, and girls sexual name-calling (e.g. "whore"). Boys most often used verbal abuse against other boys as well as girls, indicating that it was especially significant for masculinity construction. Being exposed did not have to be frequent, repeated or combined with other kinds of harassment to be negatively related to school satisfaction and well-being. The observations and interviews demonstrated that verbal abuse was a cultural resource to which boys had greater access. Often with sexual content, it contributed to "toughness", a central component of hegemonic masculinity in the schools. While generating most of the verbal abuse, tough, popular boys were not necessarily regarded as verbally abusive. Responsibility for the bulk of verbal abuse was instead attributed to "rowdy" boys. Whereas boys largely benefited from using verbal abuse, such practices mostly reflected unfavorably on girls. Verbal abuse simultaneously ordered masculinities and femininities, structured heterosexual relations, and contributed to age construction, intertwined with that of gender. For boys, using verbal abuse constituted them as appropriately (hetero)sexual teenage males. Discourses of immaturity, development, and school year used in the meaning-making of verbal abuse positioned genders differently, and contrasted teenagers with adults. Verbally abusive girls were associated with a negative "fjortis"-femininity, indicating that they displayed the wrong kind of sexuality, femininity and social age. What constituted 'verbal abuse' was jointly constructed by students and sometimes also by teachers in interaction. Speaker intent was a main point of students' understanding, in turn modified by a number of permissive discourses, such as "joking", friendship or pejoratives having "lost their meaning". Students came to interpret use of pejoratives and insults especially by tough popular boys as "jokes", rather than being offended and hurt. This suggests that students, using and investing in such discourses, reduced the practice of being verbal...

Hegemonic Masculinity and Beyond

“…This problematizes uses of hegemonic masculinity that see boys, both middle-class and working-class, as uninterested in school work, and reproduce essentialized notions of hegemonic masculinity. Similarly, while some research shows how boys draw on homophobic and misogynist discourses to construct local hegemonic masculinities (Eliasson, Isaksson, and Laflamme 2007;Evaldsson 2002; Ö qvist 2009), in his school ethnography of boys in a low-status suburb Jonsson (2007) argues that meanings of sexist expressions depend on context. By exploring how boys, through language, sometimes perform normative heterosexual masculinity, and sometimes ''the successful pupil,'' Jonsson deconstructs ''the immigrant man,'' which he argues has become a deviant, masculine stereotype needing discipline.…”

The experience of bullying among secondary school students

“…In a study about the role of verbal abuse among teenage students, it was found that verbal abuse functions as a cultural resource for the construction of hegemonic masculinities, as well as of power relations between boys and girls (Eliasson, Isaksson, & Laflamme, 2007). Therefore, abuse coming from popular "tough" boys was usually rendered legitimate and invisible, because it was often excused as unintentional or as a joke.…”

The role of popular girls in bullying and intimidating boys and other popular girls in secondary school

“…The assumption that violence or dominance are masculine and only of relevance amongst boys diminishes the actions of girls and positions them as trivial and non‐threatening (Solomon, ). Equally, although it has been found elsewhere that ‘toughness did not have the same meaning for femininity, where being heterosexually attractive, accepting subordination to hegemonic masculinity and having as many friends as possible were keys to popularity’ (Eliasson et al ., : 602). Here, ‘toughness’ was seen to be an important aspect of the popular girls’ interactions with others, and did not detract from their popularity.…”