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Assignment 5

C.J Pascoe discusses the influences of students, teachers and administrators have on influencing the gender and sexuality norms. She beings Dude You’re a Fag by describing in great detail a skit created by Brent and Greg. Both of the “most popular” senior boys put on a “nerd” persona that obviously did not resemble them. This allowed audience know it was humorous and fine to laugh at them throughout the performance. When the two boys let out a feminine squeal or displayed frustration when lifting barbells- the audience immediately roared with laughter. Notably, when the female coach lifted the barbells with ease the audience rooted and cheered for her. The skit reinforces the idea that boys must be masculine and girls must be feminine. If boys seem feminine or if girls seem masculine the action was instantly seen as comical. The Mr. Cougar assembly was approved by administration indicating that they deemed the skits harmless. Furthermore, River High’s dress code reiterated gender differentiation as they set out different policies for boys and girls. The distinction allowed for boys to show off their midriff and girls could “sag” their pants (Pascoe, 2007: 30). The dress code was reviewed and approved by administration and not a single overseer had thought of the conflicting technicality. Additionally, teachers like Mr.Ford and Mr. Kellogg fed into the notion that boys must act masculine and girls must act feminine. Huey was an outcast who refused to dress like his male peers. He preferred to sport a more unique style that mad him vulnerable to homophobic insults. When Huey flipped Mr. Ford off,  Mr. Ford then further validated their taunts by exclaiming that Huey should be having sexual relations with girls instead of flipping him off. He even added that he is not even sure if Huey knows what that means yet. This was humorous to Mr. Ford and Mr. Kellogg as they strictly believed that heterosexual men should being having sex with girls. These gender norms do not allow for girls to be masculine or boys to be feminine and compel us to believe that femininity and masculinity must coincide with sex. C.J Pascoe highlights that those qualities should be determined by actions not sex.