‘Out of the Curriculum’: sex talking, talking sex

This study draws on ethnographic research conducted over a period of 2 months at aco‐education sixth form. By considering gender identities as performative, ethnographic material is used to illustrate how male students use talk to fashion heterosexual masculinities. It is argued that the relationship between male students and the formal curriculum is crucial to the styles of sex talk spoken out of the formal curriculum. A focus on sexual stories, public talk and private talk explores how in different contexts heterosexual masculinities police and regulate specific versions of gendered sexualities. By drawing attention to different styles of talk of various masculine heterosexualities, there are implications for the ways in which reconstructed curricula are strategic in producing reconstructed gendered identities.