When are people going to stop?

I found Tuesday’s discussion very intriguing and after reading Chapters 3 and 4 of Dude, You’re a fag, I understand this term fag a lot more. A quote that I highlighted in chapter 4 was, “In group boys act as a sort of “sexual police” (Hird and Jackson 2001), deriding each other’s expressions of love, romance, or emotional desire.” (Pascoe, p. 89) This idea of boys acting, as sexual police is something I never thought of, but looking back into my high school experience I realize that is exactly what was happening. Every boy was expected to act a certain way in high school. I came from a small town high school and everyone knew everyone. If you were homosexual then you were not insulted or called a fag, but if you were heterosexual and did something out of the ordinary then you were called a fag. This term fag was used loosely at my high school and I believe it was due to immaturity. Personally I believe that fag is an insult to homosexual people. In high school it was used to specify that someone was acting weird. Friends policed each other in a way that no heterosexual boy would act “gay” or out of the ordinary. Gay was thrown around at my high school as well. It exemplified that someone was stupid if they were called gay. I started high school 9 years ago, but these ways of life in high schools have not changed. John Henrehan reported for Foxdc, “You cannot walk in the halls [at Langley High School] without hearing someone shouting. ‘You’re gay. You’re a faggot’, said Zack Sanders, a former student at the school.” (Henrehan, 2012) This journalists report matches up with how my high school was. To read more please follow this link below.

 High School Anti-Gay Slurs

I wonder when society is going to accept that things have changed and people are not the same. There are homosexuals in the world and there are heterosexual people as well. I believe that treating homosexual people this way is almost the same as racisim. Faggot is just as bad as saying “nigger.” Excuse me for using that word, but I believe both are unacceptable.

Henerehan, J. (2012, March 10). Studenta say anti-gay slurs are constant. Retrieve from http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/students-say-anti-gay-slurs-are-constant

Pascoe, C.J. (2007) Dude You’re a Fag. Los Angeles, California: University of California Press.