Dude You Re A Fag Summary

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Dude, You’re A Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School by C.J. Pascoe (2007) is an important piece of sociological research about the intersection of sexual identity and masculinity in adolescent males. Though ten years out of date, and sidetracked by the topic of female gender identity, this book provides an in-depth look at the behaviour of teenage males within educational institutions. I would recommend this book for people who interact with children and teenagers on a regular basis, such as educators, athletic coaches, and parents. This essay explores three sociological concepts that are prominent in Pascoe’s book: queer city life, Marxism in relation to education, and hidden curriculum. At the beginning of the book, the author …show more content…
Males, in attempt to assert their dominance over females, reduce to the role of females to be a stereotypically maternal, soft and passive person. This behaviour is in line with one of Marx’s elements of education, which is the education system upholds systems of inequality (Davidson, January 30th 2017, lecture). Pascoe also mentions that any deviation from a woman’s role as supporting the male breadwinner results in the weakening of society (Pascoe, 2007, p. …show more content…
For example, official sexual education features examples of heterosexual relationships, and explanations in biology use heterosexually gendered examples when exploring plant reproduction (Pascoe, 2007, p. 27). By not including non-normative discourses within official school curriculum, teachers are implying that anything other that heterosexual values are seen as divergent from the norm (Pascoe, 2007, p. 27-28). Furthermore, though sexualized discussions are explicitly discouraged between teachers and students, sexual jokes and jabs still occur, even in official classroom settings (Pascoe, 2007, p.

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