Auffant, Nicole J.. Female bodies in school: an exploration of how school policy, curriculum, and practice inform high school females' bodily (dis)comfort. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-10as-8y04
DescriptionSocial justice campaigns such as Hollaback!, Say Her Name and #MeToo highlight the often-unspoken devaluing and mistreatment of female bodies in the United States. This exploratory qualitative study employs youth participatory action research to examine how school policies, curriculum, and practices at schools in an urban and suburban Northern New Jersey district inform female high school students’ (dis)comfort with their bodies and identities. Using a critical race feminist lens, this study asked high school girls to name the school policies, curriculum, and practices that contribute to the perpetuation of the objectification and sexualization of female bodies. To explore these experiences, focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and arts-based research methods were utilized with twenty-one high school students from two different towns in the same Northern New Jersey county. Data revealed school policies such as dress codes and security, non-inclusive curriculum, and biased school practices reinforced stereotypical notions of female bodies that fostered feelings of invisibility, hyper-sexualization, and silencing within female students. These findings highlight the importance of examining the role schools play in the marginalization and oppression of female bodies to implement holistic school reform as a path toward gender justice. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.