Masculinity In High School

High School Concept of Masculinity and Sexuality: Intro The idea of what constitutes masculinity is something worth exploring. Many people equate masculinity with heterosexuality and this idea is greatly reinforced by the way that boys are treated at a young age, especially in high school. The term “fag” is used to insult boys for any number of reasons. This insult is not always based on homosexuality and can be used for things such as calling a boy weak or incompetent. However, all of this is based on things like homophobia and the idea that men must act in a particular way to be considered manly or dominant. The book called Dude, you're a fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School, is one that uses studies and research to explore this

The author explains how the negative words that high school students use to call each other feminine or homosexual is done much more often among boys than it is between girls of the same age. She does in some ways explain how the issue of race matters some as far as constructing masculinity in a social context. For instance, African American males are not ridiculed for dancing, but white males would be called homosexual if they were seen dancing in public areas. However between races there is also ridicule, African American males may make fun of each other for acting in ways that a white male might act. Although much of the ridiculing and problems were between students, often times the teachers and staff members were involved in the process of reinforcing the wrong ideas of masculinity. Although a lot of the times the teachers are the ones reinforcing gender stereotypes unintentionally, it does just as much damage and is just as

The ideas of femininity and homosexuality are unacceptable types of behavior as far as high school age boys are concerned. This naturally makes the males who feel more feminine and sensitive or have feelings of homosexual attraction like they don’t belong. They hide these feelings to fit in with everyone else, or become distant and separate themselves from other men. This is a serious problem because regardless of which one of these paths boys may choose, they are going against their natural tendencies and feelings because of a false idea of masculinity that is forced upon them in high school. Although in the research the high school studied did have homosexual male students that were not hiding who they are, they would still not be viewed as someone masculine or “normal”, and are being forced to feel on the outside of what is acceptable in