The present paper concerns the use of film for eliciting discussions of fundamental values in an upper secondary school setting. In this case, Lilya 4-ever, a feature film about sex trafficking, is used. The present paper contributes some empirical knowledge about how young people are “doing gender” in a natural setting—an educational context—that celebrates equality values. The examples from a group discussion between pupils reveal a balance between performing the school task, discussing the questions on the sheet the teacher provided, and working on their private identities, which here includes social interplay that among teenagers could involve rejecting an academic identity. The analysis concerns how pupils use discourses drawn from a film in that balancing act. The paper explores how discourses on sex are used to gain power in conversation, to challenge male sexuality, and to reject victimization.
This is an electronic version of an article published in: Katarina Eriksson Barajas , The Pimp and the Happy Whore: “Doing Gender” in Film Talk in a School Setting, 2010, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, (54), 6, 581-596. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research is available online at informaworldTM: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2010.522847 Copyright: Taylor Francis http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/default.asp