It’s one lazy weekday afternoon and you’re stuck at home just lying around. Since you’re doing nothing you turn on the T.V. and flip through some channels. Re-runs, re-runs, re-runs, re-runs, oh wait could it be? Is that Ellen? Yes it is! It’s Ellen DeGeneres with her own talk show on national television. Everybody knows Ellen! She’s funny, witty, charming, and gay. Yes, Ellen is arguably the most powerful lesbian woman in America, possibly the world. And who could argue her popularity? Ellen is Ellen. But somewhere in the back of your mind you wonder where are the gay men? Where are the gay men with their own nationally celebrated television talk show?

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The fact of the matter is there are none. Let’s be honest here, the truth is there is a double standard in homosexuality that C.J. Pascoe addresses in her book Dude You’re a Fag. Spending eighteen months of fieldwork, Pascoe wrote Dude You’re a Fag as a case study about masculinity, gender, and sexuality in high school. One of the interesting topics she touches upon in her book is how it is more socially acceptable for females to be homosexual than males. A girl often looks back at her “tomboy” childhood with a certain fondness, while a boy may wish to hide the fact that he loved playing with dolls, and doing his hair. A girl may be viewed as powerful and attractive for her masculine qualities while a boy would be labeled a fag for displaying feminine characteristics. While not encouraged it is often more celebrated when a high school girl embodies masculine qualities, as if she is declaring a sort of liberation from social norms. But should an adolescent teen wish to abandon his masculinity, he would be ostracized and ridiculed. This is what Pascoe suggests is a subconscious glorification of masculinity. It’s as if being masculine is best so it’s understandable why girls would wish to follow suit.
Masculinity is no longer tied down by sex or gender, but is embodied in many different ways. Female masculinity might sound contradictory but it exists. In schools, the work place, on television, and just about everywhere else. “Girls who act like boys” are here to stay. Yet boys who act like girls are still marginalized and left to bite the dust. Why can’t boys act like girls and still be considered men? Doesn’t this in fact reveal how deep rooted feminine oppression is in the mind? To be masculine is good and to be feminine is bad. Let’s hope that one day these views will change. Yes, girls who act like boys are here to stay, and someday boys who act like girls will too.