Borderwork among Girls and Boys

Ms. Laura is the last one on the playground.

Working as a teacher in a before and after school program you see at lot of weird stuff. I spent many long afternoons on the playground and watching my students go from blanket wielding Kindergarteners to beginning stages of hormonally obsessed 5th graders is always a treat. One of the things I observed the most were the interactions between the male and female students and how it changed over times. A vast majority of the activities between the two groups that I observed perfectly represents the activities described in Barrie Thorne's article. Chasing, invasion, and pollution rituals occurred almost every day.

 

The one place where I found this rituals to be oddly prevalent was in the line to wash hands and go to the bathroom. It was always a competition between the two groups and often times there would be taunting and teasing between the two groups. It was at this point that students often informed each other of the gender difference between the two groups. "Boys do gross things in their bathroom. They are NOT allowed in the girl's room." At the time I was too busy yelling at children to stop wetting paper towels and throwing them at each other to notice the social experiment happening infront of me. I wish I had paid more attention. 

The playground was often a place of distinct gender roles, as well. When it would rain the children were not allowed to play on the field and this would cause tension between the kids. The boys who normally beat the snot out of each other on the field were suddenly confined to playground areas that were normally dominated by the female students. This would often times cause tension between the two groups and fights often broke out. What would start as normal play would end up in the inevitable punishment of two fighting groups; groups that were often designated by gender. I find this to be extremely reminiscent of the activities the children in Thorne's article experience.