Do school authorities view the masculinity and sexuality of minority students differently than white students? According to C.J. Pascoe, teachers and other administrators treat black heterosexuality as threatening, while encouraging and promoting heterosexual expression among white students.
Pascoe spent a year and a half studying a working-class high school in California, where the student body was 49% white, 28% Latino, 10% African American, and 6% Asian. She interviewed students, sat in on classes, attended club meetings, and spent time with students informally between classes, at lunch, and at events.
Despite the fact that school administrations went to great lengths to discourage actual sexual activity, school events and rituals promoted male dominance, heterosexual coupling, and gender conformity. From pep rallies, where student-performed skits centered around heterosexual dating, to yearbook superlatives, which listed a male-female “couple” for each award, heterosexual pairings were emphasized in all aspects of school culture. Individual teachers also participated in the promotion of heterosexual expression, teasing students about which members of the opposite sex they might be dating and tolerating, or even participating in, sexist discussions by male students. It was clear that the administration of this high school approved of heterosexual interaction for the student body in general.
African-American students faced a much more hostile attitude when it came to heterosexuality. At the school Pascoe studied, like in many high schools, black male students were especially popular and well-liked by other students. Still, they faced much more opposition, fear, and suspicion from the administration when they tried to make themselves visible. When a group of primarily black students tried to form a dance group to counteract the whiteness of performance groups at their school, the administration required them to change their name from the Bomb Squad to the much “friendlier”-sounding Pep Club. At a school dance performance, numerous groups performed, and many of the dances were highly sexualized, involving male and female students doing sexy dance moves together. The male members of the Bomb Squad were specifically instructed, with the threat of suspension, to not touch the female dancers in their performance. None of the other, predominantly white, groups were warned of this. This shows how racist the administrators' views of sexuality were: they assumed that the black guys would need to be given specific instructions to prevent them from violating their dance partners. Despite the fact that the black male students were popular, they still faced disproportionate policing by authority figures in their high school. Administrators viewed black male heterosexuality as aggressive and threatening, while accepting and even celebrating the heterosexuality of white male students. Sexist comments and behaviors by white students were overlooked or encouraged, while sexism on the part of black students was far more likely to result in punishment. Pascoe's analysis shows that even when black students appear to be socially privileged (by popularity), they still face discrimination from authorities and institutions.
Pascoe spent a year and a half studying a working-class high school in California, where the student body was 49% white, 28% Latino, 10% African American, and 6% Asian. She interviewed students, sat in on classes, attended club meetings, and spent time with students informally between classes, at lunch, and at events.
Despite the fact that school administrations went to great lengths to discourage actual sexual activity, school events and rituals promoted male dominance, heterosexual coupling, and gender conformity. From pep rallies, where student-performed skits centered around heterosexual dating, to yearbook superlatives, which listed a male-female “couple” for each award, heterosexual pairings were emphasized in all aspects of school culture. Individual teachers also participated in the promotion of heterosexual expression, teasing students about which members of the opposite sex they might be dating and tolerating, or even participating in, sexist discussions by male students. It was clear that the administration of this high school approved of heterosexual interaction for the student body in general.
African-American students faced a much more hostile attitude when it came to heterosexuality. At the school Pascoe studied, like in many high schools, black male students were especially popular and well-liked by other students. Still, they faced much more opposition, fear, and suspicion from the administration when they tried to make themselves visible. When a group of primarily black students tried to form a dance group to counteract the whiteness of performance groups at their school, the administration required them to change their name from the Bomb Squad to the much “friendlier”-sounding Pep Club. At a school dance performance, numerous groups performed, and many of the dances were highly sexualized, involving male and female students doing sexy dance moves together. The male members of the Bomb Squad were specifically instructed, with the threat of suspension, to not touch the female dancers in their performance. None of the other, predominantly white, groups were warned of this. This shows how racist the administrators' views of sexuality were: they assumed that the black guys would need to be given specific instructions to prevent them from violating their dance partners. Despite the fact that the black male students were popular, they still faced disproportionate policing by authority figures in their high school. Administrators viewed black male heterosexuality as aggressive and threatening, while accepting and even celebrating the heterosexuality of white male students. Sexist comments and behaviors by white students were overlooked or encouraged, while sexism on the part of black students was far more likely to result in punishment. Pascoe's analysis shows that even when black students appear to be socially privileged (by popularity), they still face discrimination from authorities and institutions.
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