(Un)Knowing the Rules of the Game: Young Men’s Precarious Talk About “Territory Marking” in Rural Aotearoa/New Zealand

Research strongly suggests that the social conditions characteristic of rural communities impact gendered experiences of and beliefs about (hetero)romantic relationships. Largely, this is argued because of the privileging of heteronormative‐gendered roles within rural areas. What also is argued is that this privileging of heteronormativity correlates with the statistically higher rates of oppressive strategies that men are able to use to control their romantic partners. This article contributes to this body of work by analyzing how younger men from a rural high school in Aotearoa/New Zealand talked about the practice of “territory marking,” which involves men using physical violence against one another over women. What was most striking about their talk was how they spoke about this practice, as it was littered with a range of precarious elements. This meant that while it appeared cogent in places, it was also decidedly unknowing, fanciful, and ambiguous. This article will consider what this precarious talk says about how these young men cultivated a rural habitus, motivating them to articulate how idealized masculine bodies should function within public rural spaces. It will also be discussed how the precarious features of their talk signal how such idealized versions of masculinity could be destabilized.