Masculinity, sexuality, and homophobic language in high school

C.J. Pascoe. 2007. Hey Dude, You' a Fag: Masculinity Sexuality High School. Berkeley: University California Press give overview reading, demonstrate understanding main arguments, raise questions comments.

"Dude You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School" -- review and analysis

Cheri Jo Pascoe's 2007 book "Dude You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School" provides an intriguing view concerning homophobic attitudes and masculinity in high school environments. It is surely impressive to look at how two difficult terrains (high school and homophobia) are addressed in association to each-other and to how the writer concentrates on providing readers with a complex account about thinking present in most adolescent environments. The work does not only relate to generally accepted opinions about masculinity, as it provides new information and leaves readers wanting to know more by getting involved in this study themselves.

High-school students in the contemporary society are largely underestimated and the reality is that they have a strong influence on the social order. Gender and sexuality regimes have practically become institutionalized in high schools today and the masses have come to have a limited understanding of how adolescents perceive homosexuality. From Pascoe's perspective, teenagers are not necessarily infuriated with the idea of individuals putting across deviant sexual behavior, as they are inclined to discriminate people who express gender transgressions.

The word faggot is a very controversial concept in the present and Pascoe takes special interest in this term because of the confusion it often provokes. The writer emphasizes that heterosexuality has come to be an essential concept when considering masculinity. Apparently, in order for them to be able to take on masculine attributes, individuals need to focus on a heterosexual perception of the world and vice versa. According to Pascoe, society is inclined to promote the idea that in order for individuals to be successful and appreciated they need to employ heterosexual attitudes.

By presenting an event in the River High gymnasium involving two young men experiencing a self-discovery process as they go through a series of situations making it possible for them to understand that the key to happiness is to be as masculine as possible, Pascoe wants her readers to understand the complex nature of matters today. Two high-school students are part of a play that has them go from being effeminate nerds who can barely lift weights or protect their girlfriends to being strong, masculine individuals who wear clothes characteristic for men and who have little problems saving their girlfriends when the time comes (Pascoe 3).

Pascoe wants her readers to understand that educational institutes are probable to make it difficult for students to develop properly because they bombard them with information concerning generally accepted attitudes. It is not necessarily that society does not promote positive values, but the fact that some educational institutes attempt to instill a certain type of thinking in their students practically makes it difficult and almost impossible for individuals to discover their personal identity (Pascoe 28). Adolescents are vulnerable to being influenced because they are less experienced at filtering information. It is thus essential for society to devise environments where individuals can develop properly and in according with their personal interests. Society can actually be considered responsible for destroying people's identities in many cases, as many individuals refrain from expressing themselves freely because they feel that others might consider their behavior deviant.

A great deal of teachers is apparently reluctant to allow individuals outside of schools to confront students concerning their sexual identity. Moreover, it appears that many tutors in educational institutes consider that it would be safer to avoid talking about adolescent sexuality as they fear that this might reflect negatively on students. According to Pascoe (29), "in the United States, adults interpret adolescent sexuality as problematic and disruptive, as opposed to a normal part of the life course, they try to avoid inspiring sexual behavior by refusing to talk about it" (Pascoe 29).

Pascoe apparently wants her readers to understand that society has reached a point where the authorities are focused on providing individuals with the feeling that it is important to employ harsh attitudes toward people who put across gender transgressions. These people presumably confuse the general population and it is essential for the masses to get actively involved in fighting effeminacy. Homosexuality is not actually a significant matter in the agenda of most educational institutions, as while they refrain from addressing this topic, they are focused on discussing effeminacy and the damage it causes.

Society has a complex understanding of the idea of discrimination as a whole and most educational institutes today concentrate on providing students with the ability to understand why it would be wrong for them to criticize individuals on account of their particularities. Expressing homophobic beliefs is generally accepted as being wrong and most students are likely to refrain from taking on such attitudes. However, using effeminacy as a tool to discriminate is typically regarded as inoffensive and numerous students are accustomed to criticizing others when they observe that these individuals put across behavior characteristic to women.

The social order appears to promote false values regarding masculinity and femininity. Pascoe presents the case of Sean, a young man who converted to Christianity, as he feels that most boys put across effeminacy. "He used a feminized insult, implying that the boys were engaged in the practice of "getting girls" because they were ruled by their emotions and thus not able to refrain from sexist practices" (Pascoe 111). Individuals like Sean thus have the tendency to relate to men who put across their emotions as being feminine and as being weak. By focusing on an attitude he considered to be perfectly normal, Sean actually managed to insult both women and society as a whole.

What is ironic about people like Sean and other religious individuals who control their sexual urges and believe that this kind of behavior is masculine is that they are often related to as 'pussies'. "There are going to be stereotypical teenage guys again that think like that" (Pascoe 112). High school environments practically come to be composed out of individuals who use a series of stereotypes in an attempt to catalogue each other. Masculinity has come to be one of the most important factors in these environments and it is essential for teenagers to go through great efforts in order to feel as masculine as possible in order to have others appreciate them. Being appreciated is presently extremely significant for teenagers, as no one wants to feel excluded and individuals thus end up struggling to demonstrate that they are actually masculine and that they are worthy of appreciation.

The reality is that it is perfectly normal for a man to be guided by his feelings and there is nothing effeminate about this. Pascoe actually wants to raise public awareness by emphasizing that there is much more to inoffensive adolescent thinking than one might be inclined to believe. Many teenagers these days have the tendency to use a series of appellatives in an attempt to insult others. However, they fail to understand the effect that this kind of behavior has on the social order and on the individuals they insult.