Troubling the ontological bubble: middle school students challenging gender stereotypes.

In this paper, we discuss how a selection of eighth-grade students (13–14-year-olds) responded when they were asked to publicly challenge the gender binary for a critical media literacy school assignment in the USA. We describe the ways in which students negotiated the dual projects of complying wit...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Gender Studies Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 413 - 427
Autores principales: Markowitz, Linda, Puchner, Laurel
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Aug2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:In this paper, we discuss how a selection of eighth-grade students (13–14-year-olds) responded when they were asked to publicly challenge the gender binary for a critical media literacy school assignment in the USA. We describe the ways in which students negotiated the dual projects of complying with the assignment to create video ads that challenged gender stereotypes and maintaining their gendered sense of self. While the videos had virtually all students disrupting gender in some way, many did so even as they reinforced the notion of gender as a binary. We apply the idea of ontological bubble, as well as concepts from post-structural theories, to help us make sense of the different methods students used to maintain the gender binary.