Positioning a mature and normative heterosexual self in ‘attraction talk’

1. Positioning a mature and normative heterosexual self in ‘attraction talk’ The dilemmas of ‘attraction’and‘attraction talk’ in 10-year-old boys Michael Bamberg, Clark University, Department of Pschology

2. Britney Spears:‘pretty’ or ‘disgusting’? • Vic: Brendan Smith loves Britney Spears • B: no not that that’s fine • Mod: I don’t really want to talk about her exclusively but she’s kind of pretty • M: yeah • Vic: uagh <expression of disgust> • W: I have her poster in my bedroom • B: so do I

3. What makes Victor display disgust over Britney Spears? What makes others say “I have a poster of her in my bedroom”? …so the question is: …and the answer is that this may have nothing (or little) to do with Britney Spears, but (more) with participants’ display of masculine identity positions

4. The Project • 5-year-long pilot project of 10-15-year-old males <lower class children> <3rd year> • Cross-sectional + longitudinal data <10-, 12-, & 15-years of age> • DATA: • Observational • Writing • Interview • Group discussions • After-school non-adult guided interactions • TOPICS: -friends, -girls, -emotions/body, -future

5. Small Stories Episodes that are low in tellability, co-narrated + situationally embedded Identity Confrontations Interactants confront each other in terms of their ‘identity claims’ Positioning Analysis How speakers position characters in the ‘text’ How interactants position themselves + each other How speakers position themselves vis-à-vis ‘master narratives’ <by which they are positioned> Method of analysis

6. Short Video Clip:“You always hung around that fruit-punch girl” The Rhetorics of ‘Yakkification’ • Interactional encounter between four 10-year-olds (+ adult male moderator) • Theme: ‘liking a girl’ - ‘attraction’ • Topics: Katherine, Valerie, Melanie + Briana • Identity Positions: • Victor: masculinity project of ‘disinterest’ • Bart: masculinity project of navigating between ‘interest’ and ‘disinterest’ <competing discourses> • the fine-tuning of displaying BOTH interest AND disinterest • Dilemmas of normative heterosexuality + what counts as “mature”

7. Vic: KS as unlikable - except by Bart Bart: I kind of liked her Vic: <mocking> Bart: there are two more “people” I like, Stephanie and Shannon

8. Characterizations of Kimberly + Shannon (and to a lesser degree of Britney + Stephanie): Kimberly: VIC: fruit punch lipps BART: no chapped lipps VIC: all over her mouth BART: no - just here Britney + Stephanie Shannon: VIC eeuw + ugly, I hate her BART: annoying VIC: she’s a tettletale

9. as a way of concluding… • Descriptions and evaluations of girls as situated and grounded in local practices of SEEKING and AVOIDING trouble in ‘attraction talk’ • Two different ‘maturity Projects’: • displaying ‘disinterest’ • by describing potential partners as unattractive <‘yakkification> • by positioning others as ‘interested’ • displaying ‘interest’ <though not too much>

10. as a way of concluding… <cont.> • Displaying interest <though not too much> • admitting to interest • rules out the ‘offensive’ positioning of others as ‘interested’ • rules out display of overt disgust • walking a fine line <fine-tuning> between interest and non-interest display features <continuous down- & up-grading in the description and evaluation of others> • making yourself ‘vulnerable’ and learning to negotiate ‘vulnerability’ • Getting caught up in dilemmas of normative heterosexuality and what counts as ‘mature’