Language and transOceanic masculinity in

New Zealand
South-south dialogue in sexuality education

Dr. Brian W. King

City University of Hong Kong
Department of English

IGALA 9
City University of Hong Kong
May21st, 2016

 New Zealand
North in the South
South in the North
Oceanic and world enlargement (Hauofa)
Transnational enclaves (Besnier)

 On-task talk vs. Peer Talk (Georgakopoulou)

Timescales and layers

Classroom Programme
Week

Topics

Audio Recordings

May 6-26

discrimination unit

Interviews in self-chosen groups

(sexuality ed.)

May 28-29

gender across cultures

none

June 2-5

sexuality in history

none

June 9-12

gender, sex and power

none

June 16-18

masculinity & femininity

gender in the media

June 18 whole class

small groups

June 23-26

gender in the media

defining heterosexuality
intersex awareness

June 23 whole class

June 24 small groups
June 26 Intersex session 1

June 30-July 3

sexual arousal, cultural

differences

July 3 online chat session

July 21-24

dilemmas in relationships
review for assessment

July 21 small groups

(unsupervised)

July 28-31
& Aug 4

social justice and sexuality

Aug 4 Intersex session 2

Versace Men (Small Group)

1 Luana ((looking at picture)) HA (laughs)
2 Lito
if it was just one guy itd be good but //((inaudible))//
3 Luana //o::::KAY // theyre all leaning on each other and like
4 Ata
(3) LOOK AT THAT though hehe ((pointing at crotch))
5 Lito
its YUH:::uh::::ck
6 Ata
(10) okay (.) ((reading)) what was your FIRST thought
7 Luana (2) oh (.) my (.) FUCKING gosh (nervous laugh)
8 Ata
(7) ha HA (laughs)
9 Luana ((to Lito)) what did YOU say
10 Lito (4) (laughing and talking) its not NOR mal hehe
11 Luana like theyre not hot (.) AT all (2) AT all (.) to US
12 Ata
(3) THATS just WRONG (4) anyway WHOS it AIMED at (2) you think GUYS
13 Lito oh why do you say (.) how do you say (.) why do you say THAT
14 Ata
well who ELSE would it be for (1) theyre all like wearing (.) white (.)
15 Luana yeah thats like the product theyre SELLing
16 Lito yeah theyre not wearing anything else (.) ((reading)) WHATS the MESSage
17 Ata
(5) it makes your thing (.) big ((much laughter all round))
18 Luana ((reading caption)) inTENsive (2) time to get real or something::: (.) grow up
be a MAN or something (.) but they dont look like real manly they look GAY
little GIRLS (1) with BALLS

Versace Men (Whole Class 1)

1 Codey
2 Aroha
3 Codey
4 Caleb
5 Ata

is that (.) WHA::T what IS that

verSACe
i cant SEE it
MISter //put it on the THING//
//one two three four five//
five men

6 Olivia

((into mic)) Jays um going over to look at the men in underwear

7 Jay

AWWWW WRONG

8 Aroha

Jay and Codey going over to look at the sexy men

9 Olivia

in their underwear touching each other

10 Jay

me::: Josh Codey Rawiri Caleb ((pointing at the men in the picture))

11 Codey

were just CURious (laughing)

12 Josh

im the one with the ((inaudible))

peer talk

13 Hannahwhat is it about
14 Aroha

15 Caleb

((into mic)) and they are making it so //that it is THEM// having an org y

//youre the one with the BIG balls//

Versace Men (Whole Class 2)

16 Codey
17 Aroha
18 Codey
19 Aroha
20 Lito
21 Aroha
22 Codey
23 Aroha
24 Kate
25 Codey
26 Aroha
27 Jay

aw FUCK their BALLS are NEXT to each other

theyre gonna rub aGAINST each other (laughing)
are those white things mens undies
yeah ((laughing))
like WHOA
they LOOK like fa::::gs
aw there it goes
ewww hooo hoohoohoohoo
((laughing)) theyre buggers man
theyre GAY
they HAVE to be gay
look at that guys hand
ewwwww ((laughing))
especially the two like closest together
look at that one going like THAT ((limp-wristed hand gesture))

28 Mr J

okay everyone quiet please

youre //all calling out//

29 Aroha

//theyre like touching// each other

30 Mr J

now
can i just point something out

31 Codey

transition to on-task

thats //a STIFFER i bet//

32 Mr J

//ive got a question for everyone//

33 Aroha

yeah

34 Codey

thats a SEMI //stiff//

 liminality of trans-Oceanic masculinity

throws into doubt Northern configurations
of hegemonic and subordinate
masculinities
these represent colonial configurations
that are hard to challenge for Pkeh and
especially Mori men

Conclusions
The teacher is persistently setting up a discursive field in which
neither heterosexuality nor homosexuality is framed as normal
The students also often speak about sexuality in a nonheteronormative way, discursively making room for sexual diversity in
the room (including self)
However, frequently peer talk dismantles this framing (at this stage in
the unit)
situated gender practices of transnational Cook Island men can be
subversive of:

dominant Northern theorizations about globalization of sexuality

dominant Northern theorizations about what does or does not qualify as subordinated
masculinity
the agency of the colonized to challenge idealized forms of masculinity

Key References

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