Sibling relationships and the construction of young people’s gendered identities over time and in different spaces

This article explores the way that the assertion, negotiation and sanctioning of masculinity and femininity, and the construction and reconstruction of gendered identities and sexuality, are part of everyday relationships between brothers and sisters, located in time and place. This stands in some contrast to the dominant ‘cause and effect’ outcome model that characterises much research on sibling relationships. We use in-depth case studies drawn from a qualitative longitudinal study of young people’s prescribed and chosen relationships to explore how continuities and changes in the markers and dynamics of gendered identities are embedded in and constructed through the ebbs and flows of sibling relationships over time and in specific locations.