Much of what is spoken about masculinity consists of double entendre.  It is rare to speak of shafts or poles without chuckling.  Forget anything about balls.  Even if the context fits—you are playing tennis and need to grab a few balls to play with—prepare for laughter.  Be careful when speaking about a load possessive, as in your load, his load, or our collective loads.  When these phrases are used, someone will note that that’s what she said.  Who she is, that’s not important. What is, however, is that she said it: let me carry your load or hold your pole.  Is it progress when the clever idiom changes to, “that’s what he said?” 

The shift in pronouns from he to she is not so simple and is a loaded issue, no pun intended.  What are the necessary conditions leading to this change?  First, eliminate the assumption of heterosexism.  What if in the process of exclaiming during a golf match, “Get in the hole,” someone prefers a he saying it than a she?  Second, reconsider how powerful a force sex is in the lives of men.  Can we talk about holes and poles without thinking sexually?  Perhaps the clever clod that inserts sex into an otherwise innocuous conversation about mine shafts in West Virginia reflects insecurity; his impish comment assures us that sex is foremost on his mind, since he feels compelled to identify things that the unknown she could have said.  She is apparently unavailable to let us know herself.

We need a continued examination of what it means to be male and what kinds of behaviors or actions are acceptable.  In my research on men in education, I proposed a concept with a double meaning: teaching masculinity.  Its first meaning emphasizes teaching masculinity, or courageous conversations about maleness.  Schools and other social institutions should engage critically with the concept of masculinity, questioning assumptions complementary to feminism.  The second aspect pertains to my expertise as an education researcher and former elementary teacher: teaching masculinity as actions or inclinations consistent with working as an educator.  These range from caring for children or young people to intellectualism, both departing from traditional definitions of manhood.

Problematic cultural forces, inherent within many popular media representations, the defense of heterosexual marriage and family, and divisions of labor, for instance, dictate rigid men’s and women’s roles.  These same forces discourage many men from working with children who might otherwise be predisposed.  Culturally defined rules of masculinity persist and are continually enforced by strong homophobic language and action.  Teaching at the elementary level or with younger children is particularly off-limits because of the way homophobia and pedophilia dovetail into a mess of fear and misconception.  Rather than a snicker or a chortle, teaching masculinity is a doubled concept, a discussion of which will prompt the social action necessary to penetrate hardened gender norms in favor of something more fluid.  Yes, that’s what I said. 

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Shaun Johnson is a former elementary teacher in Washington, DC and recently received his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at Indiana University.  In the fall of 2009, he will begin as an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at Towson University in Baltimore, MD.