English
Based on an ethnographic study through participant observation and interviews in a Thai boxing gym in a working-class banlieue, this article focuses on the modes of masculine socialization of young boxers. We analyze the masculine forms of pugilistic socialization and the reconfiguration of gender relations induced by the marginal entry of girls in the Thai boxing gym. Boxers develop both a “working-class” and a “respectable” masculinity. The marginal entry of a powerful female boxer reinforces the tension between these observed forms of masculinities.
Keywords
- Thai boxing
- socialization
- masculinities
- banlieue
- working class
