Wrestling with Gender

Abstract

In this article, it is shown how a group of young schoolchildren rely on physicality in the production of masculinities. The authors draw from participant observational data gathered during two four-month time periods in the children's first- and second-grade years of a predominately Black, lower income, inner-city school. The production of a dominant and subordinate masculinity, as well as the children's struggles to define, to achieve, and to resist the dominant masculinity are described and discussed. Attempts to subordinate femininities and especially girls' physicality are highlighted.