N. 1 (2026)
Essays

Representing female bullying in post-feminist society: visual data for intersectional analysis

pdf (Italiano)
Angela Genova
University of Urbino
Isabella Quadrelli
University of Urbino
Anna Uboldi
Bocconi University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54103/1972-5760/31556

Published 2026-05-11

Keywords

  • Gender representations,
  • Cultural capital,
  • Bodily appearance,
  • Female social desirability,
  • Structural gender aspects

How to Cite

Genova, A., Quadrelli, I., & Uboldi, A. (2026). Representing female bullying in post-feminist society: visual data for intersectional analysis. Sociologia Del Diritto, 53(1). https://doi.org/10.54103/1972-5760/31556

Copyright (c) 2026 Angela Genova, Isabella Quadrelli, Anna Uboldi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Bullying is a relational, socially and culturally located phenomenon in which students engage in group-level practices aimed at constructing boundaries between acceptable/unacceptable and valued/devalued gendered and classed subjectivities. Adopting Bourdieu’s theoretical frame, data are analysed, through an intersectional perspective, considering cultural capital as a key element in constructing specific gender and class habitus subjectivities. Gender representations of bullying highlight the role of bodily appearance (beauty, clothes, migratory background), female social desirability, and school performance, constructing young girls’ subjectivities as persons of value. Moreover, cultural capital and migratory background are crucial in reproducing specific representations of femininity. This study aims to contribute to the debate on bullying knowledge to support the construction of anti-bullying policies. Bullying in school mirrors the power dynamics of the post-feminist society. It highlights the need for putting the focus back on the structural gender aspects in bullying as well as in society, overcoming the individualistic neoliberal perspective.
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