‘Beauties’, ‘geeks’ and ‘men-john’: the possibilities and costs of girls' performances of gender in Antiguan schools

Abstract

Whilst it is known that Caribbean girls academically outperform boys, much less is known about their experiences of school. This paper, based on qualitative research in Antiguan secondary schools, is concerned with who girls can ‘be’ in their school contexts and the consequences of positioning oneself (or being positioned) within different discourses. Drawing on interview narratives and classroom observations, this paper discusses the stories of six girls to illuminate three broad types of gender performances that were observed: ‘beauties’, ‘geeks’ and ‘men-john’. Using Francis' concepts of gender ‘monoglossia’ and ‘heteroglossia’, the extent to which these girls were able to resist the normative gender–sexual order and the consequences of conformity/non-conformity are examined.

Keywords:

• femininity
• performance
• bullying
• heterosexual matrix

Acknowledgements

This research has been funded by the Commonwealth Education Trust and facilitated by the Planning Department of the Ministry of Education, St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda. I am particularly grateful to Dr Patricia George, who facilitated the selection of schools and supported the fieldwork throughout. I also thank Mike Younger for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

Notes

All names that have been used are pseudonyms.