{"id":2898,"date":"2020-02-04T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=2898"},"modified":"2020-02-03T11:54:56","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T17:54:56","slug":"boys-masculinity-and-sexual-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2020\/02\/04\/boys-masculinity-and-sexual-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Boys, Masculinity, and Sexual Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/02\/6216937628_6a70b827f0_c-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of ten boys sitting together all wearing matching blue football jerseys. Some have blue face paint under their eyes. \" class=\"wp-image-2900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/02\/6216937628_6a70b827f0_c-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/02\/6216937628_6a70b827f0_c-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/02\/6216937628_6a70b827f0_c-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2020\/02\/6216937628_6a70b827f0_c.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption>Photo by Donovan Shortey, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dshortey\/6216937628\/\">Flickr CC<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After writing several bestsellers on girls and sexuality, journalist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peggyorenstein.com\/\">Peggy Orenstein<\/a> has turned her attention to boys. Her new book, <em>Boys &amp; Sex, <\/em>draws from hundreds of conversations with boys and young men about how they understand and participate in sex. Many of these boys struggle with ideas about what it means to be a man and how to live up to these ideals (or not).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A desire for sex with women is a key component of \u201chegemonic masculinity\u201d &#8212; the idealized, dominant form of masculinity. From a very early age, boys learn they should desire girls. For instance, preschool teachers regularly encourage \u201ccrushes\u201d between boys and girls in their classrooms.&nbsp;<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sesp.northwestern.edu\/profile\/?p=23435&amp;\/HeidiGansen\/\">Heidi Gansen<\/a>. 2017. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/0038040717720981?casa_token=zmvK1snj5tEAAAAA:NZHReiVGRqSUFTCKG7qyMVgcEqW_fzL2LA1rLKd1HL2vLZ4GWiycC5bWRIJGlzl_r8xSo1hbAcdH\">Reproducing (and Disrupting) Heteronormativity: Gendered Sexual Socialization in Preschool Classrooms<\/a>.\u201d <em>Sociology of Education<\/em> 90(3): 255-272.<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.lsa.umich.edu\/kamartin\/\">Karin A. Martin<\/a>. 1998. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2657264?seq=1\">Becoming a Gendered Body: Practices of Preschools<\/a>.\u201d <em>American Sociological Review<\/em> 63(4): 494-511.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Part of the way boys can demonstrate or prove their masculinity is by talking about their sexual experiences with their peers. Another way is through putting other boys down and undermining other boys\u2019 heterosexuality with homophobic name-calling.&nbsp;<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cjpascoe.org\/\">C.J. Pascoe<\/a>. 2007. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucpress.edu\/book\/9780520271487\/dude-youre-a-fag\"><em>Dude You\u2019re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School<\/em><\/a>. University of California Press.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">As boys enter adolescence, they face even greater pressure to have sex with girls to demonstrate their masculinity. However, many boys do not actually buy into these expectations&nbsp; &#8212; some openly reject the idea that they <em>should <\/em>be having sex with girls; others simply try to avoid the subject or deflect questions about their own sexual prowess when their friends bring it up. Those who do accept that sex with girls is part of showing their manhood often struggle with feelings of inadequacy if they do not live up to these expectations.&nbsp;<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brockport.edu\/about\/diversity\/directory\/kduckworth.html\">Kiera D. Duckworth<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/arts-sciences.buffalo.edu\/sociology\/faculty\/faculty-directory\/trautner-mary.html\">Mary Nell Trautner<\/a>. 2019. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/epub\/10.1177\/0891243219863031\">Gender Goals: Defining Masculinity and Navigating Peer Pressure to Engage in Sexual Activity<\/a>.\u201d <em>Gender &amp; Society<\/em> 33(5): 795-817.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Both social scientists and popular authors like Peggy Orenstein are contributing to public conversations around youth sex and sexuality. Their work shows the importance of understanding and addressing the sexual expectations that come with masculinity.\u00a0\u00a0<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After writing several bestsellers on girls and sexuality, journalist Peggy Orenstein has turned her attention to boys. Her new book, Boys &amp; Sex, draws from hundreds of conversations with boys and young men about how they understand and participate in sex. Many of these boys struggle with ideas about what it means to be a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,55,33],"tags":[60,56,2397,38543,34,38545,38544,27670,30294,2836,105261,25189,1976,13212,429,120,88829,103481,122757,4632,176,2051],"class_list":["post-2898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-gender","category-health","tag-adolescence","tag-adolescents","tag-boys","tag-culture","tag-education","tag-gender","tag-health","tag-hegemonic-masculinity","tag-heterosexual","tag-heterosexuality","tag-homophobic","tag-masculinities","tag-masculinity","tag-peer-pressure","tag-school","tag-sex","tag-sexual-activity","tag-sexual-behavior","tag-sexual-desire","tag-sexual-violence","tag-sexuality","tag-socialization"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2898"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2903,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2898\/revisions\/2903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}