å Sunday, October 8th, 2017

When considering the treatment of gender and sexuality at River High, Pascoe’s observations made clear that a specific, heteronormative take on gender and sexuality was heavily prioritized and both implicitly and explicitly encouraged by its teachers and staff. For example, let’s examine the school’s treatment of homosexuality: the use of the word “fag” among male students was rampant within the school, Pascoe even going so far as to say that for every time “slut,” the female equivalent, was used, “fag” was said at least eight times. Male teachers did nothing to discourage the use of this epithet and also participated in behavior that could be construed as advancing heteronormative behavior, as Pascoe points out in an interaction with Mr. Ford and Mr. Kellogg about Huey, in which Huey flipped Mr. Ford off and Mr. Ford told him he shouldn’t be doing that to him but to girls. Such behavior, at least of a potentially homophobic nature, was only expressly called out by the Mr. McNally, the drama teacher, but even then, as Pascoe points out, his jokingly hitting on one of his male students created this impression of a dichotomy in which homosexual men are something to be laughed at or ridiculed. We can also see this institutional homophobia in the school’s reluctance to allow a Gay-Straight Alliance at school, despite its allowance for a White Heritage Club.

Going further, the school’s treatment of Ricky also sheds light on their take on homosexuality. Ricky was flamboyant in displaying his homosexuality and was essentially River High’s living, breathing manifestation of a “fag.” As a result, he was subject to intense harassment if not outright violence from other male students, but the school never did anything to protect him. The only instance in which the school administration punished students for negative behavior related to homophobia was when Kevin called out the wrestling team for wearing “faggot outfits,” and the school administration expelled him, which Pascoe indicated was a result of a heavier policing of black students’ behavior, which, in turn was a result of black male students’ being seen as hypersexual due to racial stereotypes.