The Socialization of Gender-Based Aggression: A Case Study in Cambodian Primary Schools
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Socialization of Gender-Based Aggression: A Case Study in Cambodian Primary Schools Kelly Grace 1
&
Thida Seng 2 & Sothy Eng 3
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract As Cambodia confronts the implications of recent genocide and traditional gender norms, gender-based violence is increasingly important in Cambodian policy and practice. Typically, research focuses on adolescence or gender-based violence in secondary schools, however, we argue that understanding the factors and processes leading to the perpetuation and acceptance of genderbased violence begins in primary school settings with gender-based aggression. A case study of four target schools in and around Siem Reap, Cambodia indicates that gender-based aggression is socialized through the normalization of aggression as play and flirting or teasing and that power, physicality, and blame lay the foundation for the perpetuation and acceptance of gender-based aggression. Additionally, although boys are also victims of gender-based aggression in primary schools, silence surrounding their victimization supports these socialization processes. These findings have important implications for understanding the processes of gender-based aggression in young children and how these processes could lead to gender-based violence in later years. Keywords Aggressive behavior . Elementary schools . Socialization . Masculinity . Cambodia
The Cambodian Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS) indicates that 20% of Cambodian women experience physical violence in their lifetime and that 50% of women agree with at least one justification of wife beating (National Institute of Public Health, National Institute of Statistics and ICF International 2014). Additionally, 60% of women surveyed in the CDHS agreed with at least one justification of beating a child, suggesting that aggression and violence remain a significant issue within the Cambodian society. As a maledominated society based on traditional gender roles and attitudes, the issues of power and control of men over women play a key role in the gender socialization of members within Cambodian society (Brickell 2011; Eng et al. 2017). Studies have shown that middle childhood, including primary and middle school contexts, are important in the development of * Kelly Grace [email protected] 1
Department of Comparative and International Education, Lehigh University, Iacocca Hall, 111 Research Dr, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
2
Plan International Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
3
Department of Family & Consumer Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
gender-based violence and aggression (Pellegrini 2001; Underwood and Rosen 2009; Wolfe et al. 2009), suggesting that primary school experiences create the building blocks of later aggression and gender-based violence. The purpose of the present study aims at examining the processes through which gender-based aggression is socialized in a primary school setting in Cambodia.
Gender-Based Violen
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