male peer groups

• boys prove their masculinity to their friends by sharing stories about their sexual conquests (sex life). boys who don't do this risk being labelled as gay
• male peer groups also use verbal abuse to reinforce their definitions of masculinity
• Epstein and Willis study shows that boys in anti school subcultures often accuse boys who want to achieve as being gay or effeminate
• Mac An Ghails (1994) study of Parnell school examines how peer groups reproduce a range of different class based gender identities
• Mac An Ghail (1994) said there is a hierarchy of male achievement
• heirarchy of male achievement (top to bottom)

  • real Englishmen
  • dickhead achievers
  • macho lads
• real Englishmen

  M/c boys projected an image of effortless achievement - succeeding without trying (some were working hard in secret) as its not just w/c boys who have to show toughness in education
• dickhead achievers

  W/c boys who care about education and work hard to achieve - at the expense of abandoning their w/c identity (Sugarman, 1970 - immediate gratification, fatalism etc). they aspire to have have middle class careers and gain social mobility.
• macho lads

  W/c macho lads were dismissive of other w/c boys who worked hard and aspired to have a middle class career
• Roadman and An Ghail found that the dominant definition of masculine identity changes from the macho lads in lower school to the real Englishmen in sixth form.

  This represents a shift from the w/c definition of masculinity based on toughness to intellectual ability