Des hommes en école de sages-femmes. Sociabilités étudiantes et recompositions des masculinités.

Abstract

Male midwifery students’ involvement in a “female” study track makes them susceptible to experience different gendered secondary socialization mechanisms, particularly originating from the student group. Does the influence of this group transform them into “new” men? Using observations carried out in three French midwifery schools and interviews conducted with twenty-two male students, I argue that their presence in a predominantly female group does not only trigger adaptation and transformation by these men, but also underlines a plurality of masculinities (Connell, 2014). Drawing on a theoretical framework in terms of continuous socialization (Darmon, 2006), I show the central influence of gendered primary socialization and study choice on how these male students appropriate the student group’s socialization and reconfigure their gender practices.