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'The 5 cm rule': biopower, sexuality and schooling.
- Source :
-
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education . Dec2009, Vol. 30 Issue 4, p443-456. 14p. - Publication Year :
- 2009
-
Abstract
- This paper explores 'the 5 cm rule', a regulation around student contact discovered during an investigation of the sexual culture of schooling with 16-19-year-olds in New Zealand. Implemented to stem 'inappropriate and unwanted' touching, it stipulates that students must maintain a physical distance of 5 cm at all times. It is argued this rule represents a contemporary type of biopower which forms part of the sexual culture of schooling. As a technique of corporeal regulation it is characterised by a 'loose' exercise of power, that allows for student resistance while producing subjects' 'docility-utility' (Foucault, 1980). The paper contends that the rule contributes negatively to 'the sexual culture of schooling' by constituting student sexuality as 'unruly' and 'problematic'. This stipulation also prescribes a set of gender relations that are inhibitive of mutually negotiated and pleasurable corporeal experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01596306
- Volume :
- 30
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 45484053
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/01596300903237214