Deconstructing the Normative Boy in Pre-school and School and in Masculinity Research

The aim of this paper is to discuss and challenge the heteronormative and stereotypical descriptions of boys and masculinity in the Swedish debate and in research about boys and schooling. By taking point of departure in post structural feminism, queer theory and critical studies on men and masculinities the paper will address on the one hand how heteronormativity and the normative boy are constructed in the debate and in research and on the other hand how the category boy and heteronormativity are materialised in some situations and interviews with boys and girls in pre-schools and primary schools. What masculinity positions are shaped and offered to individuals categorised as boy and what practices are excluded and not seen as masculine? In what way is heteronormativity a part of the construction of the ordinary boy? In the last part of the paper we will highlight methodological aspects and discuss the possibilities and obstacles connected to the concept of heteronormativity. The paper is a part of an ethnographic project in progress, Becoming a Real Boy, financed by the Swedish Research Council, based on poststructural discourse theory and Judith Butlers concept of performativity and gender as performance.