Bullying versus Discrimination

The “jocks” making fun of the “geeks” has been a long-standing part of attending school in the U.S. and is seen as just part of growing up. However, what is a more recent development is society’s homophobia transcending through the school doors. Within the past few months various accounts of what has been called bullying have been rampant in the news. From 14-year-old boys to college students, teens across the country are being tormented for identifying as gay or being accused of homosexual behaviors, and the result is suicide. In most schools there are not consequences for teasing, especially when it is only verbal abuse. Why as a society do we think that only sticks and stones can break our bones but words will never hurt us? Clearly through the current media attention, homophobic verbal teasing and taunting is breaking not only bones, but also the hearts of families and friends. Yet as these suicides become more popular in the news media, journalists have started to clump this phenomenon together with bullying in general. I suggest that through C. J Pascoe’s book, Dude You’re A Fag, we can look at how these recent homophobic suicides are not just part of bullying in general, but are part of the institutionalization of homophobic discrimination throughout society and specifically in the education system.



Pascoe discusses how the word fag is used among boys in place of dumb, stupid, annoying, or feminine. I suggest that the socialization of the term fag is where the problem lies. Sure kids are being teased, taunted, and tormented, which are all characteristics of bullying, but there is a major difference between being teased for you hairstyle and being teased for your sexual identity. Right now many people, especially celebrities, are trying to reach out and show support for those who have been affected by the recent suicides. For example Madonna, Kim Kardashian, and Obama, to name a few, have openly discussed their own experiences of being bullied in school. In spite of this, all of them relate their teasing to being a nerd, or not being in sports. But this type of bullying is way different than the homophobic ridicule gay teens and are facing today.
Our society needs to realize that mocking one’s identity is vastly different then teasing a teen’s academic or extra-curricular interests. Homophobic abuse goes far beyond the school doors and out to the real world where homophobic discrimination lurks at many corners. For example, employers can fire an employee for openly identifying as gay, most are excluded from military service, and in most states gays don’t have the right to get married. This is a serious problem, which I consider to be very different than being picked on about your weight or you athletic ability. I was personally bullied in junior high, and I will not un-validate that those were the worse 2 years of my life, but what I’m suggesting is that homophobic discrimination is its own separate battle society needs to fight different then bullying in general. Through Pascoe’s fag discourse she illustrates that these terms hold more than just simple discrimination, “To call someone gay or fag is like the lowest thing you can call someone. Because it’s like saying that you are nothing” (55). When will society stand up and fight against this injustice that is causing on average 500 gay teens a year to commit suicide?