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

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 W: I have her poster in my bedroom B: so do I

…so the question is: What makes Victor display disgust over Britney Spears? What makes others say “I have a poster of her in my bedroom”? …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

The Project 5-year-long pilot project of year-old males Cross-sectional + longitudinal data DATA: Observational Writing Interview Group discussions After-school non-adult guided interactions TOPICS: -friends, -girls, -emotions/body, -future

Method of analysis 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’

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’ the fine-tuning of displaying BOTH interest AND disinterest Dilemmas of normative heterosexuality + what counts as “mature”

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

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

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 –by positioning others as ‘interested’ –displaying ‘interest’

as a way of concluding… Displaying interest –admitting to interest –rules out the ‘offensive’ positioning of others as ‘interested’ –rules out display of overt disgust –walking a fine line between interest and non-interest display features –making yourself ‘vulnerable’ and learning to negotiate ‘vulnerability’ Getting caught up in dilemmas of normative heterosexuality and what counts as ‘mature’