In C. J Pascoe's Book 'Dude You' Re A Fag

My chosen academic journal article is Contesting silence, claiming space: gender and sexuality in the neo-liberal public high school by Susan W. Woolley. This article examines how educational institutions and its actors introduce and reinforce a heteronormative binary ideology, and reject any non-normativity that may occur. Through this deep-rooted theoretical framework, high school students struggle to freely explore individual interpretations of sexuality and

Pascoe identifies high school as a crucial site where masculinity is continuously being defined, declared, and defended. Her exploration of day-to-day high school life shows that male students are constantly declaring their masculinity by attacking those who seem to lack masculinity, often identified as, “fags,” which illustrates that the concepts of masculinity are tied to heterosexuality. The book highlights how important masculinity is, not just to the students, but also to the definition of the institution, which continues to foster an environment that is tolerant and complacent of sexual harassment and homophobia. Pascoe also states that adolescent masculinity is seen as dominance that is presented through a sexualized discourse and not just through behaviors. Although the book

It is generally accepted that when children reach adolescent, they become sometimes aggressive. This aggression can cause arguments at home with parents or bullying at school. The formation of aggressive behaviors is probably due to the fighting for more independence as the person transitions from being a child to an adult. In the article, “Dude You’re a Fag: Adolescent Discourse Masculinity and Fag Discourse” by CJ Pascoe, Pascoe explains that adolescent boys police their masculinity by increasing homophobia among themselves. Pascoe argues that development of adolescent masculinity and sexuality are directly connected and intertwined with homophobia. To prove his point Pascoe conducted a study in a high school, where he interviewed 49 (36

In the article “Dude you’re a fag; Adolescent masculinity and the fag discourse” C.J Pascoe addresses American adolescent boys learning to become masculine through the rejection of the fag identity. Masculinity and sexuality are embedded with the word faggot. This article focuses on the challenges of the relationships between homophobia and masculinity. This article points out three arguments that focus on homophobia demonstrating that the fag is not only an identity linked to homosexual boys, but an identify that can temporarily adhere to heterosexual boys as well and highlighting the radicalized nature of the fag as a disciplinary mechanism. Homophobia is usually used to describe ways that boys aggressively tease each other, girls do not harass each other this way and they often aren’t embarrassed in the same manner. Pascoe provides examples of how the fag discourse is radicalized and that failing at the masculine tasks of competence reveals weakness and femininity with sexual identity.

Society faces an issue that is not usually addressed because it is seen as the norm in today’s American culture. It is the crisis of masculinity. The notion of how men should be portrayed is not usually identified as a problem; today’s society views men’s apathetic and exasperated exterior as the orthodox behavior of everyday life. Boys at a young age are taught by the popular culture that they need to be a “real man” - strong physically and emotionally. The mask many men put up is based on the extreme idea of masculinity that emphasizes toughness, physical strength and gaining the respect of others through violence or the explicit threat of it. This front is put up by men because they do not want to stray from what is accepted, for men who

Pascoe discusses how masculinity can function as a regulatory mechanism of gender in American adolescent boys. It has been found that the word ‘fag’ is not necessarily directed at a homosexual boy, but has taken on a new meaning in school age boys. It is being used as a disciplinary mechanism to police certain behaviors “out of fear of having the fag identity permanently” (Pascoe p.330). This kind of teasing and harassment can temporarily be place on any boy who shows signs of weakness or femininity. The high schoolers in the study told Pascoe that calling someone a fag was like telling them they were nothing or stupid (Pascoe p. 335). Boys could be called a fag for anything that he did that was opposite of masculine, even when it had nothing to do with his sexual preference. The fag discourse seemed to be just another way for the contest of masculinity to take

In the Passage "The Crossing" the Author Cormac McCarthy's give techniques convey the impact of the experience on the main characters. Like in paragraph Line 5 it says "he cradled the wolf in his arms and lowered her to the ground and unfolded the sheet" so basically the author is trying to point out how he Billy killed the wolf and then carries her through the mountains to burry her . Another good piece of evidence is that the "Coyotes were yapping along the hills to the south and the were calling from the dark shapes" well from my point of view it sounds like the wolfs were crying but as you continue to read on you'll see that it says it in line 13.

In Michael Kimmel’s non-fiction academic book chapter: “Bros Before Hos: The Guycode” is an excerpt from his critically acclaimed book Guyland released in 2008, that addresses the ideals and fundamentals of where masculinity stems from and society’s direct effect on young men and the creation of the modern day masculine male. Michael Kimmel’s combination of credible resources, informative personal research, and real-life personal narratives that help to establish and support his strong and feasible argument, of societies effect on male masculinity, that readers alike can relate to and understand.

Pascoe begins by pointing out ways in which the school as an institution plays a crucial role in the formation of masculinities. She often noticed teachers routinely ignored homophobic and sexist comments made by students. Students were never really punished for using words like “fag,” “gay,” or “dyke”. What are less obvious and more upsetting than the criticisms of the sex-ed program are the varied examples of the ways that “Heterosexual discourses were embedded in the physical environment of the classroom, teachers’ instructional practices, and students’ classroom behavior” (p. 39). From the pictures of boy/girl pairings on the walls, to the homophobic jokes between male students and male teachers, the schools’ complacency with heterosexism becomes undeniable. In one instance a boy and girl left the Winter Ball early, two vice principals joked “You two going to a hotel or what”? I feel that if two male students walked off that the administrators would have reacted in a different manner.

For decades, there have been several cases and stories about how the homosexual youth have been mistreated, and Matthew Shepard is one of the many cases. The causes of the oppression may be disturbing to some, but they are clear: discrimination and inequality. This issue is dividing our community into acceptance and refutation. Those who disagree about the gap often see it as a choice between being a heterosexual or a homosexual. Often times, the maltreatment may take place in school, at a workplace, or public. It has been shown that “still, some gay students suffer harassment of their sexual orientation, and many, particularly athletes, stay “in the closet” for fear of unfavorable treatment” (“Gays on

In Pascoe’s analysis of the word fag she interviews many boys at River High and most of them had the same response, that a boy could be called fag for exhibiting any sort of behavior defined as unmasculine such as being stupid or incompetent, to caring too much about something, or being too emotional(57). With this I analyzed the situation I always got stuck in and constantly was under fire for the word fag. At River High having a girlfriend “both protected boys from the specter of the fag and bolstered their masculinity” in certain cases (90). At El Capitan I was the guy who always had a girlfriend but I never dated girls from the same school. Even though I was adored by other girls at the school for expressing my love interest to this other girl. The guys constantly threw the word fag at me for being emotionally attached to a girl. So I was intrigued and happy to hear that in Pascoe’s one on one interviews the guys who would be calling me a fag were actually in the same situation as me but just too scared to admit their feelings publicly. All because of the social organization as Weeks explains that the peer influences within the high school put out a

When thinking of the word cheerleader one typically imagines a pretty, white, blond girl with pom-poms. No one ever imagines a male identifying person in such a way. If male cheerleaders do exist they are automatically considered a “fag” whether they are homosexual or not. Pascoe defines “fag” as “the opposite of masculine, whether or not the word is deployed with sexualized or non-sexualized meanings:” In our society cheerleading is considered a female sport and men who become cheerleaders automatically lose their masculinity and hence are deemed “fags”. In this essay, I demonstrate that anything that does not assert ones masculinity makes that man a fag regardless of their sexuality.

The notion of hegemonic masculinity has altered the field of gender studies and many academic arenas. An idea popularized by R.W. Connell, hegemonic masculinity has played an integral role in the emotional development of American men, articulating the impact that this societal construction has had on the concept of American masculinity. It is a contested topic, yet the impacts that it has in terms of sexuality, struggles for power and political leadership, and gender identities are valid (Connell 830). Although difficult to fully achieve, it acts as a guiding force for the stereotypically masculine. Hegemonic masculinity assumes the subordination of all other forms of masculinity, placing it at the top of the social hierarchy. At the same time, the idea of hegemonic masculinity has served as a bridge between the growing field of men’s’ studies and female studies (Connell 829). Several authors share the premise that men in American society conform to the standards of the social construct of hegemonic masculinity.

Masculinity, a seemingly simple concept. Yet, when examined more closely, it is clear that masculinity is constantly changing in its definition as well as in its most basic essence. Throughout the years, one can see this evolution firsthand by looking back at the men who have been portrayed in popular media in the United States of America. From the suave Don Draper types of the 1950s to the more casual, educated, and easygoing men- with perfectly chiseled abs, of course- that are portrayed in media today, the difference is clear. This drastic, yet unsurprising, shift in ideals, as well as the exponential increase of media consumed every day, has led to a change in how “masculinity” is perceived, as well as how it is enforced by society in the modern day. Alarmingly, this trend has led to the birth of so-called “toxic masculinity”, a bastardization of the original ideas behind masculinity which has created an enormous, detrimental effect on society as a whole. As defined in the article The Difference Between Toxic Masculinity and Being a Man, toxic masculinity is “manhood as defined by violence, sex, status, and aggression. It’s the cultural ideal of manliness, where strength is everything… where sex and brutality are yardsticks by which men are measured,” (O’Malley) This is a clearly displayed truth, and it’s astounding to see how even from a young age boys are taught not to show emotions other than anger, conditioned to believe that being “like a girl” is the worst possible

Masculinity and femininity are unescapeable. We are taught how to be masculine or feminine from birth but for men, the highest form of masculinity achievable is hegemonic masculinity. In this essay, I will define hegemonic masculinity, discuss how it perpetuates homophobia by restricting the way men interact with one another and by the use of the word fag, and how it perpetuates gender inequality through the expectations of violence, no emotions, and being breadwinners.