Negotiating masculine identities: Adolescent boys' experiences of a school-based rites of passage program and its potential for gender transformation

This paper examines how adolescent boys’ experiences of a school-based rites of passage program informed their understandings of masculine identity. The year-long program aims to support boys’ constructions of ‘healthy masculine identity’. Data collection took place in a suburban, all-boys’ high school in Australia. The research draws on feminist post-structuralism, perceiving gender and power as negotiated and dynamic practices, and employs narrative methodologies to understand boys’ personal accounts of the program. Two key themes were recognized: first, boys emphasized the importance of their own ongoing self-development; and second, boys expressed distancing themselves from hegemonic masculinity, claiming to adopt more progressive ideals. Further investigation of program impacts is recommended to understand more fully the depth of the boys’ engagement in gender transformation