Blog 3

From Pascoe’s written experiences I found it interesting how high schools really put emphasis on heterosexual relations through rituals and traditions- like school dances and other activities. I had never really noticed this before. When she described the Mr. Cougar ceremony as being similar to a wedding I made a similar connection with the homecoming king and queen assemblies held back at my high school. Pascoe points out how high schools often represent a reproduction of larger cultural meanings around gender and sexuality. At River High, Pascoe felt that many of the faculty members didn’t encourage homosexuality and often poked fun at it. She analyzed many different situations when teachers became uncomfortable and used humor as an outlet. While the drama teacher explained how he feels the word “fag” cannot be interchangeably used with “stupid”, he still would use jokes and pick up attempts (about a student dressed in tight, black clothes or the “sweaty men’s basketball team”) that implied he was gay. To me this demonstrated the fragilities of student/teacher relationships. If even the faculty and administrative staff are going to point out and denounce anything feminine or weak about boys then the problem within the student body has no chance of being improved.

In chapter 2, Pascoe clarifies that the existing “distinction between fag as an unmasculine and problematic identity and gay as a possibly masculine, although marginalized, sexual identity is not limited to teenage lexicon; it is reflected in both psychological discourses and gay and lesbian activism". This supports the fact that these cultural discriminations, while present in schooling, are part of the bigger picture. To think that they only exist in high schools is incorrect. Through her writings I also found it interesting that for African American males being white is feminine in itself. So African American boys tease each other differently about homosexuality than white boys. In her chapter “Being a Boy”, Hooks refers to a quote from Raising Cain, which asks our culture to “discard the distorted view of boys that ignore or deny their capacity for feelings”. Hooks is aware that we are only individuals in a culture seeped in traditional male and female roles, but she is still positive with her message in stating that we must begin somewhere. From this reading I gained a better understanding of the development of boys in our society and how isolation and antisocial behavior can deny boys of their sense of value and worth. The family and home environment combined create a large influence on young men and how they grow and create themselves. The root of male problems goes back to childhood.


Through personal experience I have seen how boys taunt each other with homophobic comments and how they constantly try to prove their manliness and dismiss any behavior that could be associated with homosexuality. Pascoe compared the teasing to a game of hot potato- boys are on the defense and ready to push the spot light off themselves and on to someone else. Attending an all girls high school, within the academic environment I wasn’t surrounded by boys. Though, this doesn’t mean that I missed out on their ways/behavior. If anything I feel that the all boys environment of our brother school magnified the homophobic remarks and insults. I’m sure the guys who have attended Saint Augustine would agree with me when I say that whenever a person finds out about a same-sex education, one of the first questions to follow is, “Were you surrounded with gays/lesbians??”. For clarity purposes and to prove themselves to other coed schools the boys were overly sensitive. This came through in different sporting events involving other schools and in other social situations. It’s strange to me that while the boys struggled with this as a girl, I never experienced anything remotely similar. Also, as Pascoe recorded in her study, females aren’t usually the ones putting this off on guys. More often than not it’s men doing the harm to other men. It’s as if they’re keeping each other in check, reminding each other of what’s appropriate for the male gender and what isn’t. But if this is hurtful and confining for them, you’d think they’d just stop doing this to one another.