REPRODUCTION AND RESISTANCE TO THE CULTURE OF FEMININITY AND MASCULINITY IN SECONDARY-SCHOOL PHYSICAL-EDUCATION

The purpose of the study was to investigate ways in which gender-relat ed perceptions and actions influenced students' construction of realit ies in curriculum-in-action in secondary school physical education. Th e participants were junior and senior secondary school students in a m idwestern city in the United States. Data collection methods included observations and interviews. Data were analyzed with inductive analyti cal procedures. The findings of the study revealed that a majority of the female and male students reproduced traditionally dominant forms o f femininity and masculinity. Female students patterned their behavior consistent with feminine ideology in selecting and participating in c lass activities, and male students chose and participated in class act ivities along masculine conceptions. The results were interpreted with reproduction and resistance theories. While femininity and masculinit y cultures were reproduced through students' choice of activities and participation patterns, these cultures were resisted through students' construction of oppositional behavior.