‘Young boys use violence to show masculinity’

PRIMARY school boys use sport, violence and bullying to exert their power over those they see as being “gays”.

This is according to research conducted at a Mariannhill Primary School and presented at a national violence conference earlier this month. The research conducted by University of KwaZulu-Natal Professor Deevia Bhana and co-authored by Dr Emmanuel Mayeza looked at the way boys at the school express their masculinity on the school playground through the use of violence.

The boys, who were part of the study, were between the ages of 10 and 13 years old and identified themselves during sessions with the researchers as “real boys” who play football and can fight.

According to the research, boys who were small in build, effeminate, played gently or played “girls’ games” and did not fight back when provoked were considered to be “gays” by the “real boys”. The boys in the study said they would not play with these other boys and used violence, bullying and ostracism as ways of exerting and wielding power over them.

When asked why the other boys were beaten up at school, one boy said his grandmother had told him that “being gay” was very bad and he had to grow up to be a “real Zulu man”.

The boys identified being able to fight as an important factor of being a “real boy”. The study suggested that patriarchal views in society and violence within homes played an important role in how these young boys shaped their identities.

Mayeza told the Cape Times’s sister paper The Mercury that education about gender and related issues of identity should begin at home.

“It is very important for parents and guardians to talk openly and in non-judgemental ways with their children about gender and gender-related violence at school, including homophobic bullying.”

Mayeza said it was possible for the boys, who were part of the study, to change.“Parents and teachers are particularly important role players in terms of influencing behavioural and attitudinal change among children.”

Clinical psychologist Diante Fuchs said the older generation still viewed homosexuality (and any other sexuality other than heterosexuality) as being “dirty”, “wrong” or “sick”.

She said parents and guardians need to create a new dialogue around gender roles.

Those who did not fight back were considered gay by the ‘real’ boys