Dude, Be A Man

In light of recent coverage of gay teen suicides, the (liberal) nation has been up in arms about anti-gay bullying. Homophobia is rampant in high schools. Walk down the halls of any public school – you will probably hear “fag!” or “that’s so gay,” five to ten times on your journey from the English hall to the Math wing.

But is it really homophobia that is to blame? Dude, You’re a Fag by C.J. Pascoe delves into uncovering the “fag discourse” taking place in River High, a public school in California. In the chapter for which the book was named, Pascoe opens with a scene from the school’s annual Creative and Performing Arts Happening. One of the students, Brian, tells a group of elementary students that, “There’s a faggot over there! Come look!” The group follows Brian to the end of the hall where his friend Dan is displaying exaggerated gestures of effeminate behavior. Brian yells, “Look at the faggot! Watch out! He’ll get you!” and the younger boys flee in terror.

This is example is significant to Pascoe’s case, showing how fag or faggot is used as a mechanism of discipline. The central idea of the “fag discourse” simply uses homophobia as a means to express what is undesirable – being unmasculine. Pascoe states: “Homophobia is too facile a term with which t describe the deployment of fag as an epithet… Invoking homophobia to describe the way boys aggressively tease each other overlooks the powerful relationship between masculinity and this sort of insult.”

She then further points out that fag is a term used almost exclusively for boys. The meanings are highly gendered. Though girls have been witnessed to use the term gay as a synonym for anything negative, fag implies incompetence or a lack of masculinity. By pointing out another boy’s status as fag would shore up one’s dominance and display of masculinity.

This is to say that homophobia does not exist: “Most guys explained their or others’ dislike of fags by claiming that homophobia was synonymous with being a guy. For instance, Keith, a white soccer-playing senior, explained, ‘I think guys are just homophobic.’” The preoccupation still exists, though, with masculinity.