Today when boys are talking about sexuality, they are not talking about sex. The fag discourse refers to how boys “talk about heterosexuality reveals less about sexual orientation and desire than it does about the centrality of the ability to exercise mastery and dominance literally or figuratively over girls bodies.” (Pascoe, p.86-87). Many of the popular boys at River High are heterosexual and take part in the fag discourse. One of the the most popular seniors at River High was Chad. Chad was a stud when it came to playing sports and at getting the ladies. During his interview, “Chad spent much of his time describing how he was ‘that guy’ on campus.”(Pascoe, p.87). He also talked about how his muscles and nice body led him to get the ladies unlike the other boys in his school. …show more content…
In River High, it’s a social norm that people who are popular can do whatever they want. For example, if Chad and one of his friends were fighting over the same girl, Chad would get the girls because everyone thinks of him as some hot shot. The belief that his popularity makes him “the guy” takes away from the fact that he might not even be good at or want sex. According to Gender-Ideas-Interactions-Institutions, “sexual objectification is the reduction of a person to his or her sex appeal.”(Wade and Ferree, p.232). At River High it was normal for popular boys, especially Chad to treat girls solely as objects. In highschool, boys try to make themselves popular so that they can get the ladies. Just because the boys want the ladies doesn’t necessarily mean that they wanted sex. Some boys solely want a girl so they can make themselves look like they are all that, but really they aren’t. The boys at river high think that it’s funny when people are in a serious relationship and think of the man in the relationship as a