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A review by yetilibrary
Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School by C.J. Pascoe
5.0
This is a fascinating study of masculinity & sexuality. Although this study is small--Pascoe conducted it at only one US high school--I think the environment and phenomena she documents will be familiar to most (if not all) people who went to high school here in the US, and I think many of us will recognize ourselves in the students she speaks with. The picture she creates is therefore very familiar, but also extremely disturbing, and I hope it will cause parents and educators to reexamine how we raise our kids (our sons in particular) and how we socialize them.
To back up a bit, when the title mentions "masculinity and sexuality," what's referred to here is what Pascoe terms "f*g culture" (I'm not typing that word out, deal with it). "F*g culture" is a mix of toxic masculinity and homophobia--it is not merely homophobia; there is a strongly gendered component here--that is often marked by the "f*g" epithet. Through this lens, Pascoe can examine not only homophobia OR toxic masculinity, but see how they interact and feed on each other. She also points out how US high schools ritualize and enforce heterosexuality, which is something I'd never considered but is absolutely correct. There is, of course, also a racial (and racist!) dimension to how all this plays out, and she makes note of that as well.
This is a fairly short book, but it is excellent, and if you are an educator or a parent, I'd urge you in particular to check this out. It is disturbing--both in terms of the overall picture and in terms of some specific, graphic language and events--but if you can manage it, it is worth your time.
To back up a bit, when the title mentions "masculinity and sexuality," what's referred to here is what Pascoe terms "f*g culture" (I'm not typing that word out, deal with it). "F*g culture" is a mix of toxic masculinity and homophobia--it is not merely homophobia; there is a strongly gendered component here--that is often marked by the "f*g" epithet. Through this lens, Pascoe can examine not only homophobia OR toxic masculinity, but see how they interact and feed on each other. She also points out how US high schools ritualize and enforce heterosexuality, which is something I'd never considered but is absolutely correct. There is, of course, also a racial (and racist!) dimension to how all this plays out, and she makes note of that as well.
This is a fairly short book, but it is excellent, and if you are an educator or a parent, I'd urge you in particular to check this out. It is disturbing--both in terms of the overall picture and in terms of some specific, graphic language and events--but if you can manage it, it is worth your time.