Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gender and Sexuality in High School

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Handbook of the Sociology of Gender

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

Schools are organizers of gender and sexual practices, identities and meanings. Boys and girls learn from school rituals, pedagogical practices, and disciplinary procedures that heterosexuality is normal and natural. In tandem with school-sanctioned forms of masculinity and femininity, young people themselves construct adolescent cultures that normalize heterosexuality and normative forms of gender, which in turn intersect with other axes of identity like race and class to produce varied and disparate experiences for students of different backgrounds. Though education is often cited as an equalizing force, schools promote gender differences between boys and girls that can result in gender inequality. This happens through both formal and informal schooling processes. More research is needed on sexual and gender minorities in school, as most of it has focused on heterosexual and cisgender students and gender inequality.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    “Cisgender” is the opposite of “transgender,” and means that the sex one is assigned at birth (male or female) corresponds to the way one experiences one’s gender (boy or girl, man or woman).

  2. 2.

    A “genderqueer” understanding of transgender experiences seeks to question and dismantle the categories of “boy” and “girl,” “man” and “woman,” rather than conceptualizing transgender people as being “actually” one gender, born unluckily into the body of the other gender.

References

  • Adams, N., & Bettis, P. (2003). Commanding the room in short skirts: Cheering as the embodiment of ideal girlhood. Gender & Society, 17(1), 73–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alvarez, J. (2007). Once upon a Quinceañera: Coming of age in the USA. New York: Viking.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Association of University Women. (2001). Beyond the gender wars: A conversation about girls. Washington, D.C.: Boys and Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, S., Burbidge, L., Campbell, P. B., Jackson, B., Marx, F., & McIntosh, P. (1992). The AAUW report: How schools shortchange girls. Washington, DC: National Education Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker-Plummer, B. (2012). Fixing Gwen. Feminist Media Studies, 13(4), 710–724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Best, A. (2000). Prom night: Youth, schools, and popular culture. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bettie, J. (2002). Women without class: Girls, race, and identity. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogle, K. (2008). Hook-up culture: Sex, dating, and relationships on campus. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America (Vol. 57). New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, L. M. (1999). Raising their Voices: The politics of girls anger. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of ‘sex’. New York and London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colloff, P. (2009). Sweet 15: The rise of the all-out, over-the-top, super-spectacular, bank-breaking Quinceañera. In Texas Monthly. Austin, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. (1987). Gender and power. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbett, K. (2001). Faggot = Loser. Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 2(1), 3–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dank, M., Lachman, P., Zweig, J. M., & Yahner, J. (2014). Dating violence experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43, 8460857.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeZolt, D., & Hull, S. (2001). Classroom and school climate. In J. Worrel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of women and gender (pp. 257–264). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, K. O. (2012). The right way to be gay: How school structures sexual inequality. In E. Miners & T. Quinn (Eds.), Education. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erdur-Baker, Ö. (2010). Cyberbullying and its correlation to traditional bullying, gender and frequent and risky usage of internet-mediated communication tools. New Media & Society, 12(1), 109–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fahs, B. (2010). Daddy’s little girls on the perils of chastity clubs, purity balls, and ritualized abstinence. Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies, 30(3), 116–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, A. A. (2001). Bad boys: Public schools in the making of black masculinity. University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fields, J. (2008). Risky lessons: Sex education and social inequality. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, M., & Macpherson, P. (1992). Over dinner: Feminism and adolescent female bodies. In M. Fine (Ed.), Disruptive voices: The possibilities of feminist research. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Foley, D. E. (1990). The great American football ritual: Reproducing race, class, and gender inequality. Sociology of Sport Journal, 7(2), 111–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fordham, S. (1993). Those loud black girls: Black women, silence, and gender ‘passing’ in the academy. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 24(1), 3–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frisén, A., Jonsson, A-k, & Persson, C. (2007). Adolescents’ perception of bullying: Who is the victim? Who is the bully? What can be done to stop bullying? Adolescence, 42(168), 749–761.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garcia, L. (2012). Respect yourself, protect yourself: Latina girls and sexual identity. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garofalo, R., Deleon, J., Osmer, E., Doll, M., & Harper, G. W. (2006). Overlooked, misunderstood and at-risk: Exploring the lives and HIV risk of ethnic minority male-to-female transgender youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 38, 230–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, L. O. (1999). Our kind of people: Inside America’s black upper class. New York: Harper Perennial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant, J. (2014). The boy problem: Educating boys in Urban America 1870–1970. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griswold, W. (1987). A methodological framework for the sociology of culture. Sociological Methodology, 17, 1–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hird, M. J., & Jackson, S. (2001). Where ‘angels’ and ‘wusses’ fear to tread: Sexual coercion in adolescent dating relationships. Journal of Sociology, 37(1), 27–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hlavka, H. R. (2014). Normalizing sexual violence: Young women account for harassment and abuse. Gender & Society, 28(3), 337–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irvine, J. M. (2005). Disorders of desire: Sexuality and gender in modern American sexology. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Cody, R., Stephenson, B. H., Horst, H. A., et al. (2010). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Justice Policy Institute. (2002). Cellblocks or classrooms? The funding of higher education and corrections and its impact on African American men. Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kann, L., Olsen, E. O., McManus, T., Harris, W. A., Shankin, S. L., Flint, K. H., Queen, B., …, Zaza, S. (2016). Sexual identity, sex of sexual contacts, and health-related behaviors among students in grades 9–12—United States and selected sites, 2015. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries, 65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, M. S., & Mahler, M. (2003). Adolescent masculinity, homophobia, and violence: Random school shootings, 1982–2001. American Behavioral Scientist, 46(10), 1439–1458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, M. S. (2001). Masculinity as homophobia: Fear, shame, and silence in the construction of gender identity. In S. Whitehead & F. Barrett (Eds.), The masculinities reader. Cambridge, UK: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kindlon, D., & Thompson, M. (2009). Raising cain: Protecting the emotional life of boys. New York: Ballantine Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosciw, J. G., Greytak, E. A., & Diaz, E. M. (2009). Who, what, where, when, and why: Demographic and ecological factors contributing to hostile school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38, 976–988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lesko, N. (2001). Act your age! A cultural construction of adolescence. New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Letts, W. (2001). When science is strangely alluring. Gender and Education, 13, 261–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, N., Cortesi, S., Gasser, U., Crowley, E., Beaton, M., Casey, J., et al. (2012). Bullying in a networked era: A literature review (pp. 2012–2017). Cambridge, MA: Berkman Center for Internet & Society Research Publication Series.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, Q. (2006). Cyberbullying in schools a research of gender differences. School Psychology International, 27(2), 157–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luker, K. (2007). When sex goes to school: Warring views on sex—And sex education-since the sixties. New York: WW Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, E. (1991). The egg and the sperm: How science has constructed a romance based on stereotypical male-female roles. Signs, 16(3), 485–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J. R. (1976). What should we do with a hidden curriculum when we find one? Curriculum Inquiry, 6(2), 135–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, K. A. (1998). Becoming a gendered body: Practices of preschools. American Sociological Review, 63(4), 494–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milner, M. (2013). Freaks, geeks, and cool kids. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Modell, J. (1991). Into one’s own: From youth to adulthood in the United States, 1920–1975. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Conference of State Legislatures. (2016). State policies on sex education in schools. Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Barr, W. M., & Atkins, B. K. (2014). ‘Women’s Language’ or ‘powerless language’? In Gita DasBender (Ed.), Language: A reader for writers. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, J., Schrager, S. M., Belzer, M., Simons, L. K., & Clark, L. F. (2015). Baseline physiologic and psychosocial characteristics of transgender youth seeking care for gender dysphoria. Journal of Adolescent Health, 57, 374–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orenstein, P. (1994). Schoolgirls: Young women, self-esteem, and the confidence gap. New York: Anchor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pallotta-Chiarolli, M. (1999). Diary entries from the ‘teachers’ professional development playground’: Multiculturalism meets multisexualities in Australian Education. Journal of Homosexuality, 36(3–4), 183–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pascoe, C. J. (2007). “Dude, you’re a fag”: Masculinity and sexuality in high school. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascoe, C. J. (2013). Notes on a sociology of bullying: Young men’s homophobia as gender socialization. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, 1, 87–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul, E. L., Wenzel, A., & Harvey, J. (2008). Hookups: A facilitator or barrier to relationship initiation and intimacy development? In S. Sprecher, A. Wenzel, & J. Harvey (Eds.), Handbook of relationship initiation (pp. 375–390). New York, NY: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne, E. C. (2007). Heterosexism, perfection, and popularity: Young lesbians’ experiences of the high school social scene. Educational Studies: A Journal of the American Educational Studies Association, 41, 60–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, J., Muller, C., & Wilkinson, L. (2007). Adolescent same-sex attraction and academic outcomes: The role of school attachment and engagement. Social Problems, 54(4), 523–542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peskin, M. F., Tortolero, S. R., & Markham, C. M. (2006). Bullying and victimization among black and hispanic adolescents. Adolescence, 41(163), 467–484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pompper, D., & Crandall, K. (2014). The erotic-chaste dialectic and the New Southern Belle code at the high school prom: Feminine gender role stress across ethnic and socio-economic factors. Journal of Popular Culture, 47(5), 937–951.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poteat, V. P., & Rivers, I. (2010). The use of homophobic language across bullying roles during adolescence. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31(2), 166–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poteat, V. P., Kimmel, M. S., & Wilchins, R. (2011). The moderating effect of support for violent beliefs on masculine norms, aggression, and homophobic behavior during adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(2), 434–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quantz, R. A. (1999). School ritual as performance: A reconstruction of Durkheim’s and Turner’s uses of Ritual. Educational Theory, 49(4), 493–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renold, E. (2000). Coming out: Gender, (hetero)sexuality and the primary school. Gender and Education, 12(3), 309–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rios, V. M. (2011). Punished: Policing the lives of black and latino boys. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Risman, B., & Schwartz, P. (2002). After the sexual revolution: Gender politics in teen dating. Contexts, 1(1), 16–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roughgarden, J. (2013). Evolution’s rainbow: Diversity, gender, and sexuality in nature and people. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, S. T., Franz, B. T., & Driscoll, A. K. (2001). Same-sex romantic attraction and experiences of violence in adolescence. American Journal of Public Health, 91(6), 903–906.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rys, G. S., & Bear, G. G. (1997). Relational aggression and peer relations: Gender and developmental issues. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 43(1), 87–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadker, M., & Sadker, D. (2010). Failing at fairness: How America’s schools cheat girls. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanday, P. R. (2007). Fraternity gang rape: Sex, brotherhood, and privilege on campus. New York: NYU Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Savin-Williams, R. (2005). The new gay teen: Shunning labels. The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, 12(6), 16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schalet, A. T. (2011). Not under my roof. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Seals, D., & Young, J. (2003). Bullying and victimization: Prevalence and relationship to gender, grade level, ethnicity, self-esteem, and depression. Adolescence, 38(152), 735–747.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, N. (2002). Bullying as sexual harassment. In S. M. Bailey (Ed.), The jossey-bass reader on gender in education (pp. 409–428). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorne, B. (1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in school. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thurlow, C. (2001). Naming the “outsider within”: Homophobic pejoratives and the verbal abuse of Lesbian, gay and bisexual high school pupils. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 25–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolman, D. L. (1994). Doing desire: Adolescent girls’ struggles for/with sexuality. Gender & Society, 8(3), 324–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolman, D. L. (2003). Daring to desire: Culture and the bodies of adolescent girls. In R. Weitz (Ed.), The politics of women’s bodies. Cambridge: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trudell, B. N. (1993). Doing sex education. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyack, D., & Hansot, E. (1992). Learning together: A history of coeducation in American public schools. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voyer, D., & Voyer, S. (2014). Gender differences in scholastic achievement: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/04/girls-grades.aspx.

  • Walters, A. S., & Hayes, D. M. (1998). Homophobia within schools: Challenging the culturally sanctioned dismissal of gay students and colleagues. Journal of Homosexuality, 35(2), 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, L., & Pearson, J. (2009). School culture and the well-being of same-sex-attracted youth. Gender & Society, 23(4), 542–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, L. R., & Adams, H. L. (2013). Parties, drugs, and high school hookups. Affilia, 28(3), 240–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, J. (1984). Groping towards sexism: Boys’ sex talk (pp. 54–84). In A. McRobbie & M. Nava (Ed.), Gender and generation. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oregon, Eugene, USA

    C. J. Pascoe & Andrea P. Herrera

Authors
  1. C. J. Pascoe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrea P. Herrera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. J. Pascoe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Barbara J. Risman

  2. University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa, USA

    Carissa M. Froyum

  3. University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    William J. Scarborough

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Pascoe, C.J., Herrera, A.P. (2018). Gender and Sexuality in High School. In: Risman, B., Froyum, C., Scarborough, W. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Gender. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76333-0_22

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76333-0_22

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76332-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76333-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation