School related gender based violence: an intersectional approach

Abstract

Despite increasing attention to SRGBV, little consideration has been given to the multiple identities of teachers and students and their role in perceptions and performances of SRGBV. This paper explores the intersections of gender with constructs of ethnicity, culture, religion and sexuality norms and enactments of SRGBV in three secondary schools in England. It draws on qualitative interview data collected for the project ‘Developing Gender Equality Charter Marks in order to overcome gender stereotyping in education across Europe’. The intersectionality of gender with sexual norms emerged in essentialist views about female academic and professional competence and normative expectations of sexual conduct, sustaining a culture of gender disrespect and a gender regime in which SRGBV was the penalty of transgressions of gender and sexual norms and the means to reiterate male privilege in two schools. The intersectionality of gender with culture, ethnicity and religion emerged in one of the three schools in teachers’ discourses of ethnic deficit associated with perceived lack of ability, freedom, and choice in ethnic minority girls’ lives and inappropriate expressions of sexuality that diverted from white British norms. Further research is required to enhance knowledge about the performances of SRGBV alongside other axes of power and discrimination.