And thanks Jay for your further elaboration. One of the most
intriguing/frightening things we found with the 10-12 year olds was
evidence of girls identifying as boys without apparently being aware of it.
It was in the context of typical social studies units that we observed. We
found, as is usual, that the content (texts used, teacher-led class
discussions, etc.) was almost entirely male-oriented. We also found when my
female research colleague talked with some of the more able female students
about their experiences, that they identified with male characters in the
curriculum as though they were male. When she asked one student why, the
student seemed embarrassed and confused when she realised what she was
doing.
I have since noticed the same thing in other contexts.
Not being female, I have no way of understanding quite what this might
mean, but it seems like a frightening example of the internalisation that
Jay refers to:
>a lot of what the community wants to make us into, make us do, believe,
>value, >behave like is quite contrary to the interests of most of us
>(women, gays, >working class people, under-18s)
We wrote about this in an article for teachers:
Alton-Lee,A.G., Nuthall, G.A. & Densem, P. (1990) "I only think of men ...
I don't think of women" SET Research Information for Teachers.
Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.
I hope others find this helpful
Graham
Graham Nuthall
Professor of Education
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch, New Zealand
Phone 64 03 3642255 Fax 64 03 3642418
http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/educ/ultp.html