Punking

Dynamics of Punking

The practice of punking includes the boy or man doing the punk, the verbal or physical act of violence, the victim of the act, and the witnesses. Punking is a strategy used by boys and men to affirm their male identity in Western cultures where the masculine ideal is equated with superiority, dominance, strength, and infallibility. In the case of middle school and high school, punking helps affirm which boys are “in” or cool and popular and which boys are uncool, unpopular, or “outcasts.” Older boys punk younger boys, popular boys punk less popular boys, stronger boys punk weaker boys, and athletes punk nonathletic boys. In the media, Bart Simpson is an example of a punking perpetrator. Very popular with middle and high school boys, most episodes of The Simpsons include at least one example of Bart punking another character for fun. In South Park, also very popular with middle and high school boys, the Kenny character is the victim of verbal and physical punking, bullying, or more extreme violence witnessed by other characters in just about every episode.

Punking is an everyday, everywhere occurrence in the lives of many boys and men. Boys describe that punking happens everywhere in schools and that it is either ignored or kept just under the radar of teachers so that it goes unnoticed. A verbal punk or shameful put-down can happen in class, and if the teacher happens to notice the punker (perpetrator) talking, he will stop his verbal put-down and ask about homework or some academic topic. Verbal punks can include sexual insults about the victim's mother, homophobic taunts, and verbal insults about appearance in front of classmates like telling the victim he is funny looking and ugly or wears uncool (inexpensive) clothes, or other shaming comments like telling the victim he is weak and a “pansy.”

Physical punking includes taking a boy's lunch or other belongings, slapping him, throwing him around, or overpowering him in front of an audience by pushing, shoving, kicking, punching, and fighting. It can also include acts like slamming a boy up against a locker and holding him there while verbally shaming him as others watch.

A key dynamic of punking is that it is done in public. Punking is not a personal act between one boy or man and another boy or man done in private. It is a strategy used by a boy or man to increase his status as a male, thereby affirming traits of maleness by demonstrating these in front of others, especially other males. Punking only works if it is witnessed by others. It does not serve a purpose if there are no witnesses.

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