The, You 're A Fag : Masculinity And Sexuality

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

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.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word Masculine as “Male: having qualities appropriate to or usually associated with a man” (Merriam-Webster). While another source, the popular comedic Urban Dictionary, presents a more satirical definition of the word Masculine, "Often defined as aggressive, strong, and unfeeling or stoic. Being masculine means in modern times, at least, no shows of emotion, no flamboyance, no hugging or even looking at other men, must be interested in sports and physical/violent activity” (Urban Dictionary). Obviously the Urban Dictionary is a comedic source and should not hold the same weight as the definition that comes from the academic source of Merriam-Webster, but the truth that is within the comedy, the absurd structure of what a man should be, is brought out into the light. A question many before us and many after us have and will attempt to answer is how is masculinity defined? The unfortunately anticlimactic answer to this is that masculinity is simply what a man chooses to do. In a world of both gender inequity and rapidly shifting gender roles, the term masculinity is becoming more and more simple in definition. In a video made by the Huffington Post to show how modern men described the word masculine, most used dominant diction such as “power,” “dominance,” “strong,” and “alpha” (Genuske). It wasn 't long ago when the word Presidential was synonym to masculine, but with the upcoming 2016 election and the first female to run for a

Masculinity is a quality of a man, a man who empowers strength and expertise to achieve goals easier. The essence of being masculine, illustrates powerful behavior, such as courage, and audacity. Stephen, fifteen-year-old pulp-cutter trying to fit into an environment, feeling extremely honored, as his father modeled, "become a man", impels a decent reputation in his father’s

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 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.

C. J Pascoe in his book titled “Dude You’re a Fag” answers the questions revolving around masculinity and sexuality in high school identifying the school setting as the primary site where masculinity is defined, defended, and asserted. Further, the book explores the high school daily life of male students and how they assert in terming those who fail to express their masculinity as “fags.” Through Pascoe, readers get a glimpse of how masculinity is upheld and constructed not just by the students but the institution as well thereby fostering an atmosphere of permissive sexual harassment, gay-bashing as well as homophobia. Most importantly is the fact that while the author illustrates how masculinity is constructed and upheld within the school

We see that masculinity is not a race or class issue it more than that, this documentary shows how sexuality and masculinity are connected. But, this is ignored and leads more men to be diagnosed with a behavior disorders and prescribed more stimulant medications and are more likely to fail out of school from the pressures of having to live up to this image. While men tend to be more utilitarian, objective, unsentimental and tough-minded, young boys in our society don’t feel safe talking about emotions and personal struggles, this documentary highlights a possibility for change towards a more open and loving form of masculinity for the future boys and men in America. My personal connection to this documentary I read this CNN article a few years ago that always stuck with me in how where rising boys in America was so much harder than rising girls. That man are taught to be the breadwinners from an early age and American boys are having a harder time living up to this, that they have dreams to, but a lot of what they want is crushed due to society demands on

In the book Dude You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School, author C.J. Pascoe did a study for roughly a year and a half at a American High school. While she was at this high school she examined masculinity and its ties with sexuality.

On the surface, The Odyssey is the story of a weary warrior who has long endured perilous trials and yearns to get home. It is a timeless classic about one man’s struggle to persevere and reclaim the home that was taken from him while he was away at war. However, The Odyssey is much more than a simple message about getting home. Odysseus’s outer struggles with his trials mirror the inner battle he is fighting within himself: one to regain the masculinity which has been abused and taken from him from various women throughout the tale. The three women illustrated in the book who either defile and or define Odysseus’s sexuality are Circe, Calypso and Penelope. Masculinity and femininity are intertwined throughout The Odyssey, and one needs the other in order to prosper.

Jenifer Siebel Newsom’s documentary, The Mask You Live In, is about the struggles young men and boys face while they are figuring out their identity in a stereotyped America. The film highlights the negative psychological and sociological implications that stem from society’s expectations of “masculinity.” According to Dr. Caroline Heldman, masculinity is defined in the U.S. as a rejection of everything feminine. American culture has classified masculinity as a strong, hardened, domineering, powerful, and controlling state of being. There are typically three lies that boys learn at a young age that plant the idea that they have to be masculine. Those lies are 1) You must have superb athletic ability and be fast and buff, 2) in order to be a “true” man, you must have

Using a combination of interviews, stories, and sociological historical insight, Michael Kimmel’s Guyland offers a descriptive theory of the ever changing social construction and performance of typical masculinity in mainstream North American youth culture. A large number of young men, Kimmel argues, currently live within the combined developmental stage and social space of “Guyland”: a world colored by its party of camaraderie, sex outside marriage, conformity, consumption, and irresponsibility. Kimmel researches these values through the various aspects of young men’s social environments and discusses the impact that Guyland has on their lives and the lives of those around them. Specifically, Kimmel argues that Guyland’s conformist, misogynist,

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 has varied meanings for different people. Peralta (2007) quoted Connell’s definition stating that “hegemonic masculinity, which is the culturally specific ideal of masculinity, where the concepts are certain notions and actions of what is being considered as a man” (p. 742). It expresses what it means to be a man. That there are certain things and actions that a man has to do to be seen as a real man. Forshee’s (2006) definition of masculinity—“a collection of indescribable characteristics permeating male culture”—is also somewhat similar (p.45). This indicates that there are a lot of different things that need to be accounted for in a male’s personality to be considered

They can be defined as the forms of practice by which a person being male or female engages in their situations. ‘Masculinity does not simply equate with men. Women can practice masculinity, though there is always a certain tension about their doing so. And masculinities can be defined in cultural spaces without the presence of reproductive bodies, though some link with reproductive bodies is always implied’ (Connell. R 2014:6). Raewyn Connell best describes the concept of masculinity in her many articles regarding the topic. One of her most well-known concepts is hegemonic masculinity and how she describes that there is an incorrect popular belief that masculinity is set in stone, created and permanent by your genes or by