Mapping Gender Bullying Through the Lens of Intra‑actions in a Private Day and Boarding School

Abstract

This paper maps a socio-ecological approach to gender bullying as part of a participatory action research project which took place in a private day and boarding school in Ireland. It applies the new defnition of bullying proposed (and recently published in 2024) by UNESCO and the World Anti-Bullying Forum (2022) and explores the networks of relationships in the school and the underpinning social norms and power imbalances therein. The core research question asks: Does gender bullying happen at this school? Through active engagement with students as co-researchers, school staff as steering group members, and two university researchers, this question was explored through a qualitative research design using focus group interviews and a Digital Dropbox. The application of Barad’s (1998; 2007; 2011) concept of agential realism is proffered to help unravel the entanglement and complexity of gender bullying. We propose that the mapping of the intra-actions of human beings with different discourses, objects, materials, spaces, and time, assists in making sense of the normativity of gender expectations and its complex array of inclusions and exclusions