CompleteMartialArts.com - Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School
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List Price: $21.95
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Manufacturer: University of California Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.7640835109794
EAN: 9780520252301
ISBN: 0520252306
Label: University of California Press
Manufacturer: University of California Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2007-06-04
Publisher: University of California Press
Studio: University of California Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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High school and the difficult terrain of sexuality and gender identity are brilliantly explored in this smart, incisive ethnography. Based on eighteen months of fieldwork in a racially diverse working-class high school, Dude, You're a Fag sheds new light on masculinity both as a field of meaning and as a set of social practices. C. J. Pascoe's unorthodox approach analyzes masculinity as not only a gendered process but also a sexual one. She demonstrates how the "specter of the fag" becomes a disciplinary mechanism for regulating heterosexual as well as homosexual boys and how the "fag discourse" is as much tied to gender as it is to sexuality.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excrement on paper
Comment: And even that is being too kind for this vile blob of feminist tripe. I've read many books but almost none have reached the level of thinly masked hatred on paper that "Dude, You're a Fag" has. While the title, alone, is offensive, the contents are far more offensive than what one might expect. I was forced to read this book for a class. While I tend to be rather accepting of many things (and admittedly have limited tolerance for others), this book is, without question, one of the most bigoted piles of misandrist garbage imaginable.
After getting over the initial shock of the childish title and glancing through the book, - it appears that the topic of masculinity and sexuality in high school is genuine. Nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, if one can get past the title, the book appears be worth reading. It didn't take long, however, to figure out that not only did this book have an agenda (to bash males) but was created as part of the author's dissertation at UC Berkeley. Pascoe makes it quite clear, from the beginning, that she is looking at male behavior from a "feminist perspective" and launches into her shocking "research" that serves only to reinforce her hatred of all things male.
Pascoe spends a considerable amount of time at the pseudonymous "River High," a school located somewhere in Northern California (apparently, near the San Francisco Bay area). Her main "subjects" include the boys in weight lifting and auto shop classes (ostensibly bastions of "maleness"), drama groups, the school's Gay/Straight Alliance club, and the "basketball girls" (a self-identified group of loudmouthed tough girls). Sounds reasonable to me - NOT! While there is nothing wrong with any of these individual subsets students found in the educational milieu - I've known plenty of wonderful people (male and female) who are interested in weight lifting, auto mechanics, and sports, as well as many fine people who are gay - Pascoe goes out of her way to find the most dysfunctional kids possible (especially boys) and then generalizes that each is representative of all others within that population.
Of the kids Pascoe "studies" she focuses on those with a plethora of problems - the outcasts and kids on the fridge of society. If I remember correctly (I had to constantly guard against my gag reflex from overcoming me), only one of those kids (the lesbian homecoming queen - now, isn't that a paradox in itself?) aspired to attend college. The heterosexual boys were all oversexed fornication machines with one purpose in life (you get one guess as to what that might be) and, no matter how bizarre or sexist the girls may have behaved, their actions were often described as "playful" (isn't that nice?). Just as disturbing is that in comparison to anything the boys might do, girls who engaged in sexist behavior were described as cute. For example, one girl likes to wear men's ties which, of course, anyone familiar with psychoanalytic theory should immediately associate with a giant phallus. Granted, the obvious association is very clear, even if psychoanalytic theory is now as old as stale bread. Sadly, it would appear that Pascoe also relies upon psychoanalytic theory (which, again, is extremely sexist) as one of the models she utilizes for her "research."
Another, rather disturbing thing is that Pascoe frequently refers to the "masculine literature" - something which, of course, she never really identifies and which is certainly lacking from her rather extensive references (nearly all of which come from feminist sources). It came as no surprise when Pascoe finally identifies herself as a lesbian at the end of her book. It's one thing to conduct unbiased research but Pascoe's clear bias as an angry misandrist shines through from the beginning. Hopefully, someone will eventually examine the topic of masculinity and sexuality in high school without the obvious hate Pascoe spews in the future.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I'm Glad I Read This
Comment: This is a fantastic book! It's easy to read, insightful, and incredibly thought provoking. As a teacher and as a man (not that this is a requirement), I whole-heartedly recommend this book to all those interested in society and our schools' reflection of it. It's a great contribution. Thank you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Dude, I'm Not Gay"
Comment: This book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the punishment males receive througout their lives at the hands of sexism, patriarchy, homophobia and heterosexism.
In my book, 10 Smart Things Gay Men Can Do to Find Real Love I write:
Being raised male in the heterosexist culture means avoiding and distancing yourself from being viewed as gay in any way. Gay is synonymous with effeminate. This is inherent sexism, as if being associated with anything female would denigrate you. In our culture, being male is a privileged status, and anything else is viewed as inferior.
A number of times I've had a straight man notice my wedding ring and ask if I'm married. I'll say, "Yes," because I am. When he asks my wife's name, I pleasantly correct him and tell him that I'm married to a man whose name is Mike.
Often, the guy steps back and immediately exclaims, "Dude, I'm not gay!" He may then proceed to ask, "Why did you choose to tell me you're gay?" as if I had a sexual motive, or tell me he was "grossed out" by the idea.
Now, I never implied that he was gay by telling him I was, nor did I have any ulterior motive. I was simply correcting him, just as when people wish me a Merry Christmas. I nicely tell them I am Jewish; whereupon they usually respond politely by saying, "Oh, sorry! Happy Hanukah!" I've never seen anyone back away, exclaiming, "Dude, I'm not Jewish. Now all I can do is imagine you in a yarmulke in synagogue and I'm grossed out. You're trying to convert me?"
"Dude, I'm not gay" and "Dude, You're a fag" are both ways to distance one's self from anything "less than a man" in Western Culture!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fight Destructive Pop-Culture
Comment: I am ordering a copy of this book because I believe that this is a very important subject that exposes a major problem in our culture. Our society tells men to never be emotional and to be as heterosexual as possible through actions, thoughts and speech. Men who do not conform to this mold are ostracized. Women are also imbued with this idea that such one dimensional men embody "masculinity", which causes them to devalue themselves in a quest to live up to the male-defined societal standard of hetero-sexiness. No one can have authentic, deep relationships in a world where everyone is acting on such a narrow script. If there had been a positive force in my life to show me how damaging this process was I likely would not have withdrawn from the world and developed a sex addiction by trying to create a fantasy life through the computer. I think I would not have been emotionally detached from my wife and nearly ruined my marriage that way. I could have avoided the severe depression I experienced in high school and the intense social isolation I felt as a result of having bisexual fantasies. I think that teachers, guidance counselors, parents, and other adults in a position to influence the minds of teenagers should pick up more books like this in an effort to better understand the damage that popular mores (such as gay bashing, hypersexualized media, etc.), when unchecked, have on young adults.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Schooling, Gender and Masculinity
Comment: Pascoe, C.J. "Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School", University of California Press, 2007.
Schooling, Gender and Sexuality
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
As a professional educator (on the university level now but I paid my dues as a high school teacher), I first heard about this book and was very interested in reading it. Published by the University of California Press, this book is a serious look at our gay teenagers. The title seems, to me at least, a bit playful for such a serious subject but be that as it may, the book, "Dude, You're a Fag" has a lot of information in it that is original and valuable. As it looks at both gender studies and masculinity, it is a readable way to learn about the problems of the soon to be members of the gay community.
Now that we are older, we realize how difficult it was to deal with masculinity ad gender issues when we were young. It was different back then when I was growing up and discovering my sexuality. We had no role models, we had no organization and most of us felt that we were the only ones. C.J. Pascoe spent eighteen months in the field in a high school that is racially diverse. Her conclusions on the nature of teen masculinity and sexuality are presented here.
It is known that it is the high school that helps us gain a sense of gender identity--in fact it is the place where we, in many cases, become aware of who and what we are. We also know that high schools are places where rumors and slurs are passed out at the speed of light. It is interesting how anyone can gain gender identification in high school when teens today are humiliated so easily. Fears and anxiety also come into play in the high school of today. It is troubling to consider that boys become boys because they are abased and abashed into a masculine identity. What causes masculinity to take hold is peer pressure--we want to be like the crown so publicly we behave like everyone else---or so we did. As Bob Dylan sang, "the times they are a-changing".
A book like this should be on every student's and teacher's reading list. It is so important that we know about and understand the construction of gender and sexuality. We must not assume that because of age and experience, that schoolboys cannot discuss class, gender and ethnicity. Not only can but they do.
Pescoe looks at homophobia as well and her research s so lucid that it invites us to think about the identity of gender formation, gender practices and gender equality (or lack thereof). In using the scientific method to approach her subject, Pescoe gives us a great deal of background information a well as a hands on approach for learning how to deal with the issues. Kids are not hiding their sexuality as we did--they are open and proud--such a change from my school days. The naiveté of youth is wonderful even though it may not always be practical. To see kids today embrace their sexuality at such young ages reflects ho0w far we have come as a community. That does not mean that they youth of today are less troubled when they discover their sexual selves. They just approach the situation differently.
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