Men’s bodies and how they are socially and culturally inscribed present challenges for male teachers in various social circumstances. These include defending their sexuality to others, engaging in hegemonic patterns of conversation in staffroom, enacting authority through discipline in the classroom and the school yard, and by caring for pupils with words rather than touch.
Men’s lives are shaped by the statuses they occupy and as a result, the male teachers in this study were constantly aware of others’ attention to their bodies, what their bodies ‘said’ about their identities, sexualities, and positions of power in educational settings.