Homosexuality In 'Dude'

When one grows up in a society that constantly tell you that being homosexual is bad or that diverging from the norm makes you strange and sub human, they cannot think anything otherwise. For the young, these stigmas can be especially damaging because they grow up treating those who aren’t like them less than animals. The anecdote offered in “Dude…” strongly shows the negatives of approaching the topic of human sexuality in that light. You have the all star jocks scaring impressionable pre-teens into thinking that “fags” are out to get you and steal your masculinity. However, as Butler put it “all gender is drag” (pg. 205 “Gender”), so, this masculinity many straight cis males try to preserve is nothing more than a construct of what society

As Keith, a white soccer player in Pascoe’s piece said “…guys are just homophobic” (211). The problem is that both situations aren’t just “phrases” and continuing to treat them that way only enhance the problem. Even if these assailants are ‘playing’ around with one another their actions are not justified. The reading “Dudes…” also touched upon the fact that sexual identity is different according to one’s background. For example, African Americans do not have a solid community which supports all ends of the spectrum to the extent that the white American community does. This lack of support from inside the community causes even more tension when it comes to this topic. In result, you have grown men still struggling with their identity because they were never given a chance to as a child without the fear of persecution. This creates environments where children are taught to be “men” and showing emotions are looked down upon. Kimmel talks about this in his piece “Bro’s before Ho’s…” Men are judge more on the way they carry themselves than on their

A culture of men is then created who see mistreating women, disregarding their emotions, and constantly affirming that one is not gay as the signs of being a man. Now, going back to what Keith in said Pascoe’s piece, it’s imperative that we know that boys are not just “homophobic.” These feelings and stigmas are taught, and re-taught over years and through generations. The bipolar system Butler speaks about uses this thinking as a way to uplift heterosexuality while putting down homosexuality. The strength of the heterosexual way only exist when we have a contradicting factor. Without homosexuality, heterosexuality would not have the grounds that it would today. In a sense, heterosexuality gives power to homosexuality by bringing it into “existence.” I disagree with this because these orientations have always existed and can even be seen in the animal kingdom. The problem came to be when heterosexuality became equated with normality. This normality, in my eyes, is due to that fact that majority of heterosexual couples can produce offspring whereas homosexual couples cannot without the aid of