“A boy cannot marry another boy”: adolescent boys' talk about ‘gay’ boys at school

Abstract

This study explored how black South African adolescent boys talk about ‘gay’¹ in schools. Thirty two boys (age ranged from 13–18 years old) attending two high schools in a historically black South African township took part. Data on their understanding of being gay were gathered using individual interviews and focus group discussions. The data were analysed using Edley and Wetherell's (2001) discursive interpretive framework. Findings suggest negative bias in the boys' attitudes towards ‘gay’ boys. The boys considered being ‘gay’ as ‘deviant’, ‘abnormal’, ‘un-Christian’ and ‘un-African’. Furthermore, ‘straight’² boys reported isolating themselves from ‘gay’ boys and avoiding practices stereotypically associated with being ‘gay’, such as wearing colorful pink clothes. Social constructions of hegemonic masculinity and homophobia appear present within an ordinary South African school setting.

Keywords:

• adolescent boys
• gay
• masculinity
• discourses

Acknowledgements

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Gill Eagle for her comments on the first draft of this paper as well as Professor Elias Mpofu for his in-depth, detailed editorial and constructive comments on the manuscript submitted to the journal. The research project was funded by SANPAD (South African Netherlands Partnership on Alternative Development) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship (ADDRF) offered by African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Ford Foundation. Lastly, thanks to all the boys who took part in the study.

Notes

1 The term ‘gay’ is put in inverted commas to acknowledge that as an identity category it is a social construct. The author in this article is aware that the term ‘gay’ implies a more liberated or liberatory form of identity, but the boys in the study were using it pejoratively.

2 The term ‘straight’ is also put in inverted commas initially to acknowledge that this is also a social construct the participants used in the study to categorise and label each other.

3 All these are pseudonyms to protect participants' identity

4 Slang language for a criminal.