The article titled “Sexuality and School Shootings” by Jessie Klein is found in the Journal of Homosexuality. Klein (2006) argues that conventional explanations of lenient gun control laws, media violence, and single parents do not adequately explain school shootings. Klein (2006) suggests that a certain type of bullying called gay harassment is the common pattern in those that perpetrate school shootings. The perpetrators were relentlessly and repeatedly accused by “preps and jocks” of being gay. When boys believe they warrant privilege, and are instead harassed, they may feel driven to avenge the perceived wrong to reclaim a more dominant, powerful, and aggressive masculinity. The topic of this research is bullying, in the specific form of gay harassment, and its relation to school shootings. The proposed research questions by Klein (2006) are, “Is there textual evidence in press reports that characterize the ways in which perpetrators experienced bullying in the form of gay harassment?” and “What interventions can be implemented to end the ongoing vicious cycle of bullying and retaliation rooted in masculine expectations?” The type of data needed for this research is hidden social patterns. The data collection method is content analysis because the researcher analyzes press reports, televised news reports, radio reports, newspapers, and online news sources. Klein (2006) examines these texts to identify patterns in the way the gay harassment phenomenon is portrayed. The data analysis method employed is thematic analysis because the researcher focuses on common patterns between the perpetrators to trace relationships and tie the findings to a wider social trend of hyper-masculinity. This research successfully describes gay harassment in the wider social context of gender expectations placed on young boys. Normalized masculinity places high expectations for boys to display violence, aggression, and dominance. An interesting aspect of this research is the inclusion of the perpetrators’ claims that the adults in the community were aware of the constant ostracizing and harassment by the more powerful students. Therefore, the perpetrators believed the adults contributed to their marginalization. I appreciate that the researcher suggested solutions to gay harassment, such as anti-bullying programs, sexual orientation workshops, school-based support, classroom panel discussions, mediation, and violence intervention.

Klein, J. (2006). Sexuality and School Shootings: What role does teasing play in school      massacres?. Journal of Homosexuality, 51(4), 39-62.