Being Normal Is the Only Way to Be

Summary

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Throughout the book, the authors examine the following issues, paying particular attention to how they are interconnected in the lives of students: * how hierarchies or pecking orders of masculinity and femininity impact the lives of both girls and boys at school * how an exclusive focus on boys works to silence the very significant ways in which sexuality and gender continue to impact detrimentally on girls' lives at schools * how homophobia impacts upon young people's peer group cultures and learning * how students critically question schooling in terms of its practices of normalisation * how many students are aware of and attempt to problematise the effects of gender and other influences in their lives at school, (p. 5) Among other conclusions, the authors find that while students' experiences varied depending on their gender, their socioeconomic status, and the type of educational institution they attended, all students had to contend with the prevailing notions of normalcy and the sex/gender regimes which stressed heteronormativity.

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Extract

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Being Normal Is the Only Way to Be

Being Normal Is the Only Way To Be by Wayne Martino and Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli. Sydney, AU: University of South Wales Press Ltd, 2005, 194 pp.

Martino and Pallotta-Chiarolli offer a fine examination of how the social construction of gende...

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