Adolescent Male Homophobia

Centrality of homophobia
to the construction of
masculinity
Opening scenario ch.3
little boys learn that
faggots were
simultaneously
predatory and passive
and that they were, at all
costs, to be avoided (p.
52)

Homophobic insults and attitudes are a key

element in the performance of masculinity
Pascoe extends our understanding of how
homophobia functions in the creation of
masculine performance
Argues that what we see in high school is a
fag discourse related to the enforcement of
masculine norms
a discourse that uses homophobia but also
extends beyond homophobia

Epithet fag as a disciplinary mechanism to

identify and correct gender deviance
Epithet used when boys are caught failing at
masculine tasks of

Competence
Heterosexual prowess
Strength
Showing emotion
Showing any signs of weakness or feminine identity

The epithet fag does not have to imply

sexuality, so much as it implies a failed or soiled
masculine identity

Fear of the fag label

Boys could always become
a fag if they did not
properly perform their
masculinity
Fear of being called a
fag restricted certain
activities
care for how one looks
dancing (esp. true
among white males)
male touching

Ricky as the embodiment the

permanent fag position
Ricky met the two criteria
to be considered a
permanent fag
1) Ricky was in fact gay
2) Presented his own
gender identity in
more feminized, less
normatively masculine
terms
cross dressed, wore
make-up

Dance was his special area of talent;

Was both reluctantly admired and
reviled for skills as a dancer

School tolerates homophobic abuse

Ricky was subjected to
constant harassment,
physical abuse
School fails to protect
him from harassment
authorities overlook
abuse and bullying

Ricky drops out of

school

Gender/sexuality and teen boys of

color
African Americans (esp. those identified with hiphop) had somewhat different perimeters for
masculinity
could pay attention to clothes/shoes (the cool pose)
could dance

African American boys also had to engage in

fag discourse but did so less than white boys
were more likely to tease each other for being white
as a stand-in for being feminized

More heavily watched by school

More likely to be punished for fag discourse

Drama Club as Safe Space?

Drama practice allowed
students to explore different
presentations of self
could play with non-normative
performances of gender

Critique of homophobia
implicit in drama club
curriculum did not extend
beyond the drama club
Reinforced the tacit belief that
gay men can be masculine
(and therefore fit into gender
norms) rather than challenging
the legitimacy of gender
norms themselves

Characterizations of boys who were different

from compulsive heterosexuals
Boys who were not interested
in sexual conquest
Claimed to be in a serious
relationship
Claimed Christian affiliations
Some claimed they were
more manly and mature
because they could control
their actions and sexual
desires

Other boys who were different

Drama club boys
Had very low status
Didnt make any
difference what they
did

Other than Ricky, the gay

males at River High
Presented themselves
as masculine
Were relatively low-key
and unobtrusive
Were thus able to pass
under the radar of the
fag discourse

Gender Maneuvering
Gender maneuvering: ways in which people act to
manipulate the relations between masculinity and
femininity, as others commonly understand them
(p. 116).
By engaging in public practices that students
associated with masculinity (certain clothing styles,
certain sexual practices, and interactional
dominance), these girls called into question the easy
association of masculinity with male bodies (p.116)

Gender Resistance
Engaged in gender
resistance by acting in
ways not usually associated
with teenage girls
Gender resistance may not
always challenge sexism
girls who act like boys
sometimes engaged in
normative masculine
actions

Sociological
understanding
of gender and
sexual norms
are necessary
before we can
undertake
broader social
actions for
change!

Schools As Gender Factories

Historical struggles against
women in (higher) education:
education is linked to power
and social prestige
18th C. America: education for
upper class boys only
19th C. America:
establishment and expansion
of public primary/secondary
school (in north) for middle
class boys and some middle
class girls
upper and a few middle class
boys most likely to go on to
college

20th Century America:

Primary/secondary school
established for poor and
working classes (esp. in
north)
Public school was a tool to
assimilate immigrants
(1890s-1920s)
Working and middle class
white males start to attend
college after WWII
School segregation was the
legal norm until 1954
Women did not commonly
go to college until the 1960s

Visual media (TV/film)

Visual media (TV/film)
reinforce gender ideologies
of the active/important
male and the
observing/caretaking
female in a supporting role
Men more likely to be
shown outdoors
Women more likely to
be shown indoors
Women sometimes shown
in powerful positions that
do not match social
realities

Boys path
Elementary school:
boys more likely to be
diagnosed with
behavioral and learning
disorders
Boys are more likely to
receive lower grades,
get punished, repeat a
grade, get suspended
from school

Are young boys at

risk?
Some have argued that
boys are at risk of
being feminized by
prevalence of women
teaching grade school
Kimmel argues that
school is a public
sphere institution
where women often
have to dress and act
masculine in order to
be taken seriously as
competent (p. 169).

Real risk to boys is in pressures to exaggerate

masculine behavior in front of other boys
There is little evidence that boys aggression is
biologically based. Rather, we understand that the
negative consequences of boys aggression are largely
the social byproduct of exaggerating otherwise healthy
and pleasurable boisterous and rambunctious play.
And it is exaggerated by boys so that they may better
fit in with other boys. . . Instead of uncritically
celebrating boy culture, we might inquire instead into
the experience when boys cease being boys
themselves, and begin to posture and parade their
masculinity before the evaluative eyes of other boys
(Kimmel 2003:169).

Boys more likely to put on a

mask of masculinity
At risk of over-valuing their
talents and succumbing to
family pressures for success
by going into challenging
masculine fields
Boys may remain in programs
though they are less qualified
and less capable of succeeding
(p. 170)

Boys may also shun academic

programs for which they have
real talent because the subject
is insufficiently masculine
and (like literature studies)
insufficiently rule-bound

Kimmel argues that socially created norms of

masculinity hinder boys achievement in school
Reading may be seen as
feminine
Homework may be seen
as not real work (i.e.,
physical work)
(see Paul Willis, Learning
to Labour on schools
and masculinity)

School As Gendered Workplace

Division of students by age
(an innovation that come
in the 19th C with
expanded public
education) led to gender
stratification in teaching
women took charge of
little children
men were responsible for
education of older children

Single Sex Schools as Solution to

Gender Inequities?
Same sex schools have
exacerbated the sexism of
some male students
Much harassment against the
first women who attended The
Citadel and The Virginia
Military Institute
Separate schools for women
may perpetuate the idea that
women cant compete with
men
Some evidence that girls do
better in all-female math and
science classes, although
studies show mixed results

Mills College classroom