Customer Reviews

Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School

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Well first off I am a currently a freshman male in college required to read this book.

Dude You're a Fag is a very interesting review of the development of masculinity and gender in high school. The author Pascoe takes an observer role in a high school for 18 months. She treads the lines between student and adult therefore she manages to build a rapport with a great number of students. This method brought a great deal of information to her study that would have been otherwise impossible if she was an authority figure.

Although I found the examination presented in this book thought provoking, it was also extreme. Having just graduated from high school, I was very surprised to not relate to very many of the behaviors the students exhibited. While the students were hormonally laden and certain behaviors are expected, I was under the impression that the administrators and teachers did not care what went on in their school besides open sex education (which they cowered in fear of). There was a point in the book when a gay student recollected the bullying he faced where I almost had to stop reading the book. I know without a doubt most of the teen behavior described would not have been allowed and would have been disciplined at my high school. Maybe public school in Wisconsin are completely different, but I was simply appalled at the content of this book. I would be eager to read the results she would find by repeating the study in my high school. Then we could tell if the school was that bad or if there was some bias introduced.

So I guess in summary, I do recommend this book but not whole-heartedly. The basic themes identified and suggestions for improvement were all great, but I would caution all readers to not base their thoughts on teens and high school from this one account.

I read this book for a class required by my undergrad, so I may have a different mindset than one who read it for fun.
Pascoe spent several weeks in a NorCal high school, studying the impact and influence of gender and sexuality with these kids. Their personal interviews are surprisingly insightful and self-reflective. The big, stereotypical star football player is very aware of gender roles and double standards. There is another popular female athlete who dresses as a drag queen for halloween, and finds it riotously funny. Many parts of this book are less-than objective, which is understandable when dealing with this part of anthropology.
But, the setting (public high school) and the layman's language makes this book something a person from any area of study can read to help open his mind to new ideas (or even just the study of them).

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.

I originally purchased this book for my Sociology class in college. This book not only helps to inform and educate, but is also a huge eye opener to me. I never originally planned on reading the rest of the book after my class had ended. This book itself was so shocking that it literally changed my views on masculinity and femininity for who knows, maybe my entire life. I'll admit that I wish this book wasn't assigned, but its something I recommend to those who wish to take a stand against bullying in the education system when it comes to masculinity and other issues such as this. Its a good read, just was hard for me personally.

Pascoe doesn't know how teenagers work. She states in facts why the students to what they do. I don't think it's that easy. Also, she doesn't know when students are messing around with her. They say ridiculous things because she is present, but Pascoe takes them seriously and analyzes jokes poorly. Don't read this.

Pascoe makes an interesting case for insights such as the fact that insults such as 'faggot' are oriented not totally on the basis of sexual orientation, but on the basis of masculinity; I don't know if I accept the argument that masculinity is necessarily dissociated from the male gender, but I still found it a compelling read.

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!

i'm very happy with the product. it arrived at my house the first possible day it was going to. very cool

During the 36 years I taught high school science I occasionally came across a modified type of behavior Pascoe speaks of. I consider that I was "tuned in" to what was going on around me in the "student world."
However, although there were times when students (both boys and girls) would be "picked on" for one reason or another - and, although teens can be hurtful to one another I never experienced kids as vicious nor as "sexual" as the boys who attended Pascoe's River High. River High had a much smaller attendance than where I taught - so - maybe kids at River
interacted more frequently and knew each more intimately than the kids at my school. We all know that hormone levels are running high in teens, but at River High it seems like hormone levels were in "flood stage."

My book came on time and was just as the seller described its condition, I was very pleased.