BLOG2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

BLOG2 - Essay Example Rather, â€Å"fag† marks failed masculinity. If masculine in demeanor, a homosexual man is not a fag; and a fag is not necessarily homosexual. Second, both the homophobia and the fag discourse are â€Å"gendered,† practiced only by boys. (Note that the boys typically think lesbians are cool). Third, both discourses are also racial. Pascoe recurrently demonstrates how masculinity models and discursive practices differ across racial groups. The relationship between adolescent masculinity and sexuality is embedded in the spectra of the faggot. Faggots represent a penetrated Masculinity in which ‘to be penetrated is to abdicate power’. Penetrated men symbolize masculinity devoid of power, this in its contradiction, threatens both psychic and social chaos. It is precisely this spectrum of penetrated masculinity that functions as a regulatory mechanism of gender for contemporary American adolescent boys. ‘Fag’ is not necessarily a static identity attached to a particular (homosexual) boy. Fag talk and fag imitations serve as a discourse with which boys discipline themselves and each other through joking relationships. Any boy can temporarily become a fag in a given social space or interaction. This does not mean that those boys who identify as or are perceived to be homosexual are not subject to intense harassment. But becoming a fag has as much to do with failing at the masculine tasks of compete nce, heterosexual prowess and strength or an anyway revealing weakness or femininity, as it does with a sexual identity. Pascoe scrupulously delineates the boundaries of these behavioral modes among boys. She presents the exceptions to the prevalent model (e.g., religious boys, and some engaged in loving relationships). Also, she makes clear that both the dramaturgy of the fag discourse and the heterosexual claims-staking are pack behavior.