ABSTRACT
In Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School, C.J. Pascoe reported on his fieldwork in a California high school, where he observed how the norms of ‘institutionalized heterosexuality’ were enforced through formal and informal strictures that were embedded deeply in the structure and culture of school life. This included ritualized and routinized threats, ostracism, bullying and harassment of students who did not fit the expected masculine or feminine gender roles and ‘institutionalized heterosexuality’. Indeed, for adolescents, an important part of the very definitions of masculine and feminine originate in contrast to those of their peers perceived to be ‘gay’, ‘fags’, ‘queers’ or ‘dykes’. Increasingly, this has also spread to the Internet and social media where young people spend much of their free time, but it always existed in the offline world. Pascoe is hope that political activism, changes in legislation, and Gay/Straight Alliances will gradually bring about changes in this school culture that is so dangerous and threatening for those perceived to be ‘gay’.
In Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School (2012), C. J. Pascoe discussed is year and a half of field research at Valley High School in Riverton, California (both pseudonyms) and how it applies to the latest sociological theories about gender, sexuality and masculinity. Up to the 1950s, sociologists, including the dean of the profession, Talcott Parsons, simply assumed that there were inherent differences between males and females, and that men who were too ‘effeminate’ or overly ‘masculine’ women were simply outside the bounds of normality, and were lesbians and homosexual men (Pascoe, p. 6). Up until fairly recent times, in fact, homosexuality was defined as a crime and a mental illness in most states, at least before the advent of the modern feminist and gay rights movements in the 1960s and 1970s. These new social movements forced a change in the social sciences away from biological determinist views of masculinity and femininity and demonstrated that they were socially and culturally constructed. There are multiple versions of masculinities and femininities that vary greatly across time and by social class, race, region and ethnicity. In this book, Pascoe defines masculinity not as a biological or genetic norm but rather as “a variety of practices and discourses that can be mobilized and applied to both boys and girls” (Pascoe, p. 9). Sexuality is not simply a matter of personal practices and preferences but also a matter of social, political and economic power relations, with heterosexuality still assumed to be the standard and all other practices somehow ‘deviant’.
Pascoe explains how the annual Mr. Cougar competition in the school “illuminates the interesting dynamics of sexuality, gender, social class, race, bodies, and institutional practices that constitute adolescent masculinity in this setting” (Pascoe, p. 3) In the skits that are performed on stage before the whole school, two white boys are dressed as ‘nerds’ who are intimated by another group of whites pretending to be black ‘gangstas’. They are forced to run off the stage, leaving their girlfriends in the hands of the ‘blacks’, until a hyper-masculine female bodybuilder shows them how to become ‘real men’ again. Once this happens, they recover the girls from the make-believe ‘gangstas’ and save the day. In this little ritual, blacks are portrayed as hyper-masculine, aggressive, violent and a threat to white womanhood, which is hardly new in U.S. history and culture. White women are shown to be passive and helpless victims until they are recused and saved from rape by tough, masculine white men, who are not ‘fags’ or ‘nerd’ (Pascoe, pp. 3-4). Indeed, adolescent definitions of masculinity are in part defined by constant joking about homosexuality and boys ritualistically “lobbing homophobic epithets at one another” (Pascoe, p. 5). They also brag about their sexual exploits and conquest and control over female bodies, although black boys are also more severely punished by teachers and school authorities for engaging in these actions.
During his time at the school, Pascoe examined a wide spectrum of activities, rituals, formal rules and social interactions by which boys and girls formed their views about masculinity, femininity, heterosexuality and homosexuality. This included sex talk, defining who was a ‘fag’ and who was a ‘stud’ with the ladies, girls who acted like boys, and the official and unofficial curricula by which heterosexuality was institutionalized. Social class was also an important factor in Valley High School, with those children considered to be ‘hicks’ who dressed poorly often being ostracized and marginalized by their middle class peers (Pascoe, p. 63). As far as ‘fags’ were concerned, there were numerous stereotypes, such as “only a fag would actually be concerned with getting his clothes dirty” while masculine males were not afraid to work with tools or get covered in dirt and grease (Pascoe, p. 63). Masculine men were supposed to avoiding touching each other as well, while only ‘nerds’ and ‘fags’ were overly-interested in artistic and intellectual activities. Just about any person or object could be considered ‘gay’, including computers, music and movies, and this term was used invariably in the negative sense (Pascoe, p. 57). A male who did not engage in heterosexual sex was considered less than masculine, or even a “no one” and a “nobody” (Pascoe, p. 88). One of the core definitions of masculinity in this environment was that males defined themselves as ‘normal’ or heterosexual through attacking, threatening and insulting any boys who were perceived to be ‘fags’ or ‘effeminate’. Moreover, masculinity was also defined as “overcoming women’s bodily desire and control”, even by getting them drunk or high and forcing sex on them (Pascoe, p. 100).
All in all, this appears to be a rather dismal portrait of present-day school culture, and Pascoe’s research indicates that it is quite commonplace across the country. It is most pronounced in rural school districts with major sports programs and high levels of religiosity, which are also the most dangerous places for students perceived to be homosexual or not fitting into the prescribed norms of masculinity and femininity. In schools that have Gay/Straight Alliances or curricula that address gay and lesbian issues, these students are less likely to be bullied, harassed or to commit suicide. This is not only the result of the homophobia that runs deep in American society but also a “cultural effemiphobia” that prescribes certain strict rules for ‘masculine’ behavior, often enforced by parents (Pascoe, p. xv). It is enforced not only at home and in the schools, but increasingly online and in the social media, where young people spend a great deal of their leisure time. In various studies, 20-40% of them also report being harassed and cyberbullied because of perceived differences in sexuality or sexual orientation (Pascoe, p. x). Pasco is hopeful that over time, activism, political pressure and changes in legislation will do more to protect public school students perceived to be ‘gay’ from this type of misery and as of 2012 there are already laws in at least nine states that do so.
REFERENCES
Pascoe, C.J. (2012). Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. University of California Press.
