ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 explored the salience of an active boyfriend-girlfriend culture at both Tipton and Hirstwood (although stronger at Tipton) and a number of heterosexualised practices and discourses (such as ‘going out’, ‘two-timing’, ‘fancying’ and ‘dumping’).As other studies have noted, girls were central to and ultimately the key protagonists for the production and maintenance of each school’s boyfriend-girlfriend culture via an intricate network of matchmakers and messengers. For most girls, being a girlfriend (albeit the ‘right’ kind of girlfriend) and participating within the boyfriend-girlfriend culture, whether as a messenger or a girlfriend-to-be, was one of the key ways to access a high status femininity. It was also the means by which girls could publicly register their desirability and attractiveness and signal their commitment and transition to older (hetero)sexualised femininities and romantic futures.
