Masculinity and Bullying

I did an observation at Dunkirk Middle for the Gender Performance project and I used Pascoe's work as my guide. Looking at the hierarchy of masculinities, I found that bullying is a form of oppression relative to maculinity. Much like Mardorassian's text, bullying is sexualized violence, in that even when it is male-on-male bullying, the bully adopts a more masculine role than the victim.

I observed two boys in detention. One boy was the notorious boss and male figure of the classroom. He was loud, boisterous, aggressive, and very proud of his heterosexuality. He adopted the hegemonic behavior, but however fits more into the marginalized masculine role due to his race and socioeconomic status. The other boy was white and goofed off to gather the whole classroom's attention. He was aggressive and physically active by hopping over desks to gather attention. He would throw things as well. However, the latter boy would only behave in this fashion when the former boy wasn't present. The first boy was in and out of the room for behavioral reasons. The second this boy returned the second boy stopped acting out.

This is representative of masculine hierarchies because when the more masculine boy is in the classroom, the other boy doesn't steal attention from him. The boy respects the hierarchy, as though the first boy was the alpha male. When the alpha left the room, his behavior worsened, which suggests that he is or wants to be the new alpha in the room.

This behavior can be related to bullying through a scenario in which the second boy could challenge the social order. If the boy hadn't stopped acting out while the "alpha" was in the room, his behavior would challenge the hierarchy.  When the hierarchy is challenged, there is likely to be some kind of conflict, physical, verbal, or otherwise. This conflict is considered bullying, as the more masculine student would try to degrade, bait, or diminish the maculinity of the challenger. The two would struggle to maintain the heirarchy and grab the "alpha" role.

Within this power struggle is the sexualized violence model. While the two go back and forth, the one in the offensive, which may go back and forth as the conflict continues, is in the traditional masculine role, whereas the other is in the feminine victim role. If someone is attempting to be the alpha, they do not want to be in the feminized role, so they'll continually diminish one another.

Masculinity is directly tied to bullying both due to the sexualized violence qualities of bullying and the competing masculinities at play between the two boys. Understanding how gender performance characterizes bullying and student interactions is an imprtant component of ending bullying in schools.