Views of High School Students on Sex and Gender: on the Need to Shape a Gender Culture during a Time of Change
Author(s)
Agafonova Tatiana Evgen’evna, Postgraduate student, ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5579-8334 Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University of Nizhny Novgorod
1 Ul’yanova St, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, 603005, tel.: +7(831)2622049, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Abstract. Introduction. Gender issues are becoming increasingly more relevant for the world and Russian community, but their coverage in the educational process lags behind the needs of students and society.
Materials and methods. The students of three schools formed three focus groups, which took part in the discussions on gender issues, which relied on the associative experiment elements and the technique of unfinished sentences.
Results. The associative experiment revealed the coexistence of traditional and modern features in modern images of men and especially women, as well as the mismatch between self-representations and the expectations of the other sex. Part of the participants reacts to this through confrontation (radical feminism and hegemonic masculinity), while others choose strategies of consent (egalitarianism or complementarity). The discussion about gender stereotypes and the work with the method of unfinished sentences reveal the dissatisfaction of the young people with the femininity-masculinity standards, which limit freedom of choice and humiliate them as a person.
Conclusion. The findings of the study involving the work with focus groups suggest the need to shape the gender culture of teachers and students.
Keywords: gender, gender culture, gender stereotype, gender contract, social transformation.
For citation: Agafonova T. E. Views of High School Students on Sex and Gender: on the Need to Shape a Gender Culture during a Time of Change. Pedagogicheskiy IMIDZH = Pedagogical IMAGE. 2019; 13(4): 566-575.
UDС: 37.017.7
DOI: 10.32343/2409-5052-2019-13-4-566-575