So What's a Boy?

Book excerpt: “This book bears the hallmark of Open University Press texts. It is well laid out and nicely produced. It manages a good balance between textbook and cutting edge research… The book is impressive in its command of a wide range of writings on sexuality, gender, masculinity and schooling.” - Educational Review "Secondary school teachers, principals and school counsellors would be the primary audience for this book, although youth workers and other workers with adolescent males should also find the boys' perceptions of school and adolescent culture of great interest and considerable use." -Youth Studies Australia This book focuses on the impact and effects of masculinities on the lives of boys at school. Through interviews with boys from diverse backgrounds, the authors explore the various ways in which boys define and negotiate their masculinities at school. The following questions and issues are addressed: What does it mean to be a 'normal' boy and who decides this? How do issues of masculinity impact on boys from culturally diverse backgrounds, indigenous boys, those with disabilities and boys of diverse sexualities? What issues of power impact on these boys' lives and relationships at school? What effects do these issues have on boys' learning at school? Through problematizing and interrogating the question of what makes a boy a boy, this fascinating title offers recommendations and indicates future directions for working with boys in school.