Boys Should Act Like Boys, Not Girls: Chicano/Latino Middle School Males Constructing Masculinity

• In Event: Shades of Brown Masculinity: Positioning and Complicating Latino Machismo to Inform Educational Policy

Abstract

Over the past decades, social scientists have widely explored gendered identities and masculinity amongst males as part of their developmental process. Unlike their white male counterparts, youth of color have to develop masculine identities that not only affirm their maleness, but also affirm their racial and cultural identity (Howard, 2012). A common misperception about young men and masculinity is the equation of masculinity with toughness and poor academic performance (Carter, 2005; Morris, 2012). This assumption is generally a result of gender scripts, or gender practices, which males and females follow that allow them to constitute themselves as masculine and feminine in structured and locally normative ways (Yancey Martin, 2003; Morris, 2012). However, how individuals make meaning of different gender scripts when race and social class intersect remains unclear.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how Chicano/Latino middle school students construct and make meaning of their masculine identities. Understanding that masculinity is very contextual and often plays out within the boundaries of place and time, this particular study explores how young Chicano/Latino students construct their own masculine identity based on social, cultural, historical and contextual factors. Using the theory of intersectionality (Bernal, 1999; Crenshaw, 1991; Delgado & Stefancic, 2001) as a main form of analysis, I explore how the intersection of race, class and gender shape the perceptions that students have about masculinity. The following questions guide this study: How do students begin to conceptualize and make meaning of what it means to be a Chicano/Latino male? Where and from whom do students receive signals regarding masculinity?

Data from this study comes from a yearlong ethnographic study that employed a Critical Race Theory framework to explore the experiences of a group of Chicano/Latino middle school males (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2010). Using a homogenous purposeful sampling, 20 Latino males between the ages of 11 to 13 participated in a series of interviews and focus groups (Patton, 2002). Participants answered questions regarding their cultural background, perceptions about race, masculinity and what they thought was appropriate behavior for males in their age group.

Findings revealed that participants received different messages from adults and peers about what it meant to be a male, but felt that masculinity was largely defined by responsibility and respect rather than a macho bravado. While messages were different and sometimes conflicting, students interpreted cultural and social messages about masculinity and created their own definition about how young men should behave and carry themselves. In addition, most participants felt they were not fully men, but rather felt that they were on their way to becoming men and needed to work on their maturity.

This work adds to the current literature on identity development and masculinity by exploring these concepts at an age that has largely been ignored to see how the development of masculinity can help shape our understanding of student academic outcomes. Further, it also extends the gender literature to inform how school practices and culture shape masculinity.

Author

• Eligio Martinez Jr, Tarrant County College