ABSTRACT
Adam Phillips is pointing to the importance of space and room to move, to a certain latitude in responding to the world, which is central to our becomings. It is important to be able to say no, to refuse, to repudiate. If compliance is the False Self's way of fitting in, then the nature of what it is trying to fit in with becomes hugely important. The workings of gender stereotypes reinforced who and how it is possible for any one individual to be in the classroom. They were acutely aware of their own, and other peoples' positions. That compliance here is shown to extend beyond the overt rules and curriculum of the school to broader social expectations of race, ethnicity and gender just underlines its pervasive pull. And the costs of compliance are potentially huge not least because compliance is always experienced as demeaning.
