1039
Paper presentation
Engaging in “masculine” and “feminine” activities as a risk to being exposed to verbal victimization
Hilde Slaatten, Katrine Botnen, Pål Halle Johnsen & Sarah Alexander Terning Noren
Boys who endorse activities traditionally seen as “feminine”, seem to be more exposed to
victimization than boys who endorse activities traditionally seen as “masculine” . There is a
stereotype that gay men are more feminine and less masculine than straight men, and boys who
violate behavior perceived as “masculine” may be called names such as “gay”, “fag”, “homo” and
other gay-related names. The aim of the current study was to explore to what extent engaging in
activities perceived as “feminine” and “masculine” was associated with being exposed to gayrelated name-calling. The participants in this study were 450 boys in ninth grade from 15 upper
secondary schools at two regions in Norway. A set of logistic regression analyses revealed that boys
who participated in team sports (“masculine” activity) were less likely to have been called gay-related
names the last week by someone who does not like them and someone who likes them, whereas
boys who participated in music or drama activities (“feminine” activities) were more likely to have
been called gay-related names the last week by someone who do not like them. Participating in music
or drama activities was not associated with having been called gay-related names the last week by
someone who likes them. These findings suggest that violating male role norms in terms of
participating in activities perceived as “feminine” and not participating in activities perceived as
“masculine”, may pose boys at risk of being exposed to verbal victimization, such as gay-related
name-calling.