Reviewt of Educationzal Research lVinrer 2003, Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 471-498 The "Boy Turn" in Research on Gender and Education Marcus Weaver-Hightower University of Wisconsin, Madison Althouigh the majority of research in gender and education has rightly focused on girls, recent research in the United States and elsews^here hzasfocused mnuch more on the learninlg, social ouitcomes, and schooling experiences of boys. T77is "boy turn" has produced a large corpus of theoretically oriented and practice-orienzted researcht alongside popular and rhetor-ical wvorks anidfetni- nist and pro-femninist responses, each of which this article reviews. To answt er ws7h boys have beconme suich a concern at this time, this article explores the ori- gins and mnotivations of the boy turn, examines major critiqules of the distress about boys, and suggests possible directions for- debates and research. KEYWORDS: boys. education research, gender, masculinity, theory-practice relationship. Until recently, most policy, practice, and research on gender and education focused on girls and girls' issues. This is as it should be, for in every society women as a group relative to men are disadvantaged socially, culturally, politically, and economically. All of these realms, of course. are integral to the study of schooling. In early interventions in education, particularly by liberal feminists and some rad- ical feminists, schools were seen as significant causes of inequality for women and, more important, as a key institution through which such inequalities could be dismantled (see Amot, David, & Weiner, 1999, chap. 5; Weiner. 1994. chap. 4). In the United States. such discussions of gender arguably hit their zenith in the early 1990s with the publication of a number of reports and popular books about girls and their educational disadvantages. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) garnered the largest media splash with the publication of Howv Schools Shortchange Girls (1992). In the report, the AAUW argues that math and science curriculum and pedagogy, biased standardized tests, and environments that do not account for girls' special concerns are educationally depriving girls. Other books of the period, such as Sadker and Sadker' s Failing at Fairness (1994). Peggy Orenstein's School Girls (1994), and Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia (1994), pre- sented girls as suffering tremendous psychological damage and educational neglect. According to these authors, girls, as compared with boys, evince more eat- ing disorders, depression, self-esteem drops, and even self-mutilation; girls are called on less often by teachers, show score and enrollment gaps in math and sci- ence, and receive fewer and lower-quality comments from teachers. Widespread 471