Bodies and gender in schools: towards a pedagogical culture of consent

Abstract

This article presents the initial findings of an ethnographic study conducted in two lower secondary schools in Italy, with the aim of exploring the everyday experiences of bodies at school and the gender cultures these produce, adopting a feminist, intersectional and non-adult-centered perspective. The data show how schools tend to reproduce bodies according to binary and cis-heteronormative logics, with recurring forms of normalised peer violence. The study highlights the urgent need to build a pedagogical culture of cross-cutting, relational and situated consent within schools.