From rakhi to romance: negotiating ‘acceptable’ relationships in co-educational secondary schools in New Delhi, India

Based on a multi-method study conducted with middle-class young people (aged 15–17) in three secondary schools in New Delhi, India, this paper focuses on heterosocial dynamics within school peer cultures as an important site of learning about gender and sexuality. Findings indicate that young people...

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Príomhchruthaitheoir: Iyer, P
Formáid: Journal article
Foilsithe / Cruthaithe: Taylor and Francis 2017
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author Iyer, P
author_facet Iyer, P
author_sort Iyer, P
collection OXFORD
description Based on a multi-method study conducted with middle-class young people (aged 15–17) in three secondary schools in New Delhi, India, this paper focuses on heterosocial dynamics within school peer cultures as an important site of learning about gender and sexuality. Findings indicate that young people negotiate and adapt rakhi (brother-sister) relationships to form less strictly platonic heterosocial friendships, which leave open the possibility of romance. Students’ preferences for certain heterosocial relationships are considered within the context of wider cultural narratives. For example, students often rejected rakhi relationships, tied to traditional, conservative values, in favour of heterosocial friendships associated with more modern and desirable social patterns. Moreover, students’ own definitions of acceptable heterosocial interactions within peer cultures suggest that they are adept at negotiating norms of gender segregation that are enforced in co-educational schools. In contrast to other formal and informal sources of sexual learning available to them, experiences and stories of romances circulating in schools seemed to offer students alternative, more positive ways of understanding teenage intimacy and sexuality.
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spelling oxford-uuid:eb1e431b-3054-451c-9d8d-6f2e3ebc43b32022-03-27T11:07:22ZFrom rakhi to romance: negotiating ‘acceptable’ relationships in co-educational secondary schools in New Delhi, IndiaJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:eb1e431b-3054-451c-9d8d-6f2e3ebc43b3Symplectic Elements at OxfordTaylor and Francis2017Iyer, PBased on a multi-method study conducted with middle-class young people (aged 15–17) in three secondary schools in New Delhi, India, this paper focuses on heterosocial dynamics within school peer cultures as an important site of learning about gender and sexuality. Findings indicate that young people negotiate and adapt rakhi (brother-sister) relationships to form less strictly platonic heterosocial friendships, which leave open the possibility of romance. Students’ preferences for certain heterosocial relationships are considered within the context of wider cultural narratives. For example, students often rejected rakhi relationships, tied to traditional, conservative values, in favour of heterosocial friendships associated with more modern and desirable social patterns. Moreover, students’ own definitions of acceptable heterosocial interactions within peer cultures suggest that they are adept at negotiating norms of gender segregation that are enforced in co-educational schools. In contrast to other formal and informal sources of sexual learning available to them, experiences and stories of romances circulating in schools seemed to offer students alternative, more positive ways of understanding teenage intimacy and sexuality.
spellingShingle Iyer, P
From rakhi to romance: negotiating ‘acceptable’ relationships in co-educational secondary schools in New Delhi, India
title From rakhi to romance: negotiating ‘acceptable’ relationships in co-educational secondary schools in New Delhi, India
title_full From rakhi to romance: negotiating ‘acceptable’ relationships in co-educational secondary schools in New Delhi, India
title_fullStr From rakhi to romance: negotiating ‘acceptable’ relationships in co-educational secondary schools in New Delhi, India
title_full_unstemmed From rakhi to romance: negotiating ‘acceptable’ relationships in co-educational secondary schools in New Delhi, India
title_short From rakhi to romance: negotiating ‘acceptable’ relationships in co-educational secondary schools in New Delhi, India
title_sort from rakhi to romance negotiating acceptable relationships in co educational secondary schools in new delhi india
work_keys_str_mv AT iyerp fromrakhitoromancenegotiatingacceptablerelationshipsincoeducationalsecondaryschoolsinnewdelhiindia