GCST2607 Chapter Notes - Chapter Article: Queer Theory, Masculinity
12 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
GCST2607 – BODIES, SEXUALITIES, IDENTITIES
Readings Week 3
'Dude, You're a Fag: Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse'
• Faggots represent a penetrated masculinity in which 'to be penetrated is to abdicate power
• Symbolise a masculinity devoid of power which, in its contradiction, threatens both psychic
and social chaos
• Female scholars -> centrality of homophobic insults to masculinity especially in school settings
• Argue that homophobic teasing often characterises masculinity in adolescence and early
adulthood, and that anti-gay slurs tend to primarily be directed at other gay boys
• Article critiques and builds on the findings by:
• pointing to the limits of an argument that focuses centrally on homophobia
• Demonstrating that the fag is not only an identity linked to homosexual boys but an
identity that can temporarily adhere to heterosexual boys
• Highlighting the racialised nature of the fag as a disciplinary mechanism
• 'fag' being homophobia - obscures the gendered nature of sexualised insults
• This framing naturalises the relationship between masculinity and homophobia
• Obscuring the centrality of such harassment in the formation of a gendered identity for
boys in a way that it is not for girls
• Fluidity of the fag identity is what makes the specter of the fag such a powerful disciplinary
mechanism
• Fluid enough that boys police most of their behaviour out of fear or having the fag identity
permanently adhere and definitive enough so that boys recognise a fag behaviour and
strive to avoid it
• Fag discourse is racialised
• Suggests that something more than simple homophobia is involves in these sorts of
interactions
• Gendered power works through racialised shelves
• Varied systems of sexualised meanings among different racialised ethnic groups
Theoretical framing
• Sociology of masculinity entails a 'critical study of men, their behaviours, practices, values and
perspectives'
• Queer theory calls for sexuality to be looked at not only as a discrete arena of sexual practices
and identities, but also as a constitutive element of social life
What is a fag? / Becoming a fag
• Gendered homophobia
• More acceptable for girls/women
• Fag discourse is central to boys' joking relationships
• African American -> clean, ovesized, caefully put togethe clothing 'uniue… speech, gesture,
clothing, hairstyle, walk, stance, handshake' developed as a symbolic response to
institutionalised racism
• White boys not identified with hip-hop culture would certainly cast them into a fag
position
• Dancing -> white boys associate it as being 'fag' but for African Americans it demonstrates
membership in a cultural community
Implications
• Fag is a 'abject' position, a position outside of masculinity that actually constitutes masculinity
• Fag as a discourse rather than a static identity reveals that the term can be invested with
different meanings in different social spaces
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
"dude, you"re a fag: adolescent masculinity and the fag discourse" Faggots represent a penetrated masculinity in which "to be penetrated is to abdicate power. Symbolise a masculinity devoid of power which, in its contradiction, threatens both psychic and social chaos. Fluidity of the fag identity is what makes the specter of the fag such a powerful disciplinary mechanism. Fluid enough that boys police most of their behaviour out of fear or having the fag identity permanently adhere and definitive enough so that boys recognise a fag behaviour and strive to avoid it. Suggests that something more than simple homophobia is involves in these sorts of interactions: gendered power works through racialised shelves, varied systems of sexualised meanings among different racialised ethnic groups. / becoming a fag: gendered homophobia, more acceptable for girls/women. Fag is a "abject" position, a position outside of masculinity that actually constitutes masculinity.
