The First Thing that Pops into My Mind is Weakness: Lessons on Femininity

• In Event: 304 - Regular Session. Children/Youth/Adolescents: Youth Identities: Voices and Perspectives

Abstract

For many adolescents, high school is a critical period of self-awareness, peer-influence, and identity construction. During this volatile period, young people explore how to express themselves in ways that range from conformity to non-conformity and transgression. This is particularly true when it comes to young people’s understanding and expression of gender identity. For some youth, their personal form(s) of gender expression aligns neatly with social expectations; for others, it does not. When gender expression does not align with social expectations, students may be vulnerable to bullying, harassment and/or violence by peers and adults. Often, youth who are policed and regulated by their classmates through bullying or harassment are targeted based on their perceived identity, be that racial, ethnic, citizenship, or, most frequently, gender and sexuality. Because gender expression (and gender non-conformity in particular) is frequently tied to other forms of identity, it is often policed and regulated most severely. Those students who embody multiple “other” identities are punished or regulated more harshly, and gender non-conformity among these students may be more severely punished because they express multiple overlapping and intersecting identities, each of which carry their own special kind of stigma. This paper explores the way young people make sense of femininity and how the media, peers and family play a significant role in this meaning making. As will be shown, the young people in this project grapple with difficult and complex notions of femininity and social expectations about what it means to be a girl or boy.

Author

• Sarah Prior, Northern Arizona University