The Ideology of “Fag”: The School Experience of Gay Students

Abstract

This article reports on research into the experience of gay teenagers in school. Interviews with gay students examined the heterosexisdhomophobia of the current educational regime in schools. As an institutional ethnography, the article explores that regime from the standpoint of the informants. It does not study the informants themselves.The ideology of "fag" is key to the organization of the heterosexistlhomophobic dimensions of the school regime. It is a practice in language. Mikhail Bakhtin's work is used to devise ways of "seeing" social organization in the speech and graffiti in which the ideology of "fag" is realized in schools. His conception of the dialogic explicates the relationship between researcher and informants, as well as the dialogues internal to informants' narratives. Excerpts from their stories create windows into the local practices of the ideology of "fag" as they experienced it and made available the social organization of their everyday school lives. Analysis focuses on how speech, whether as verbal abuse or homophobic graffiti, concerts antigay activities, articulating to the wider organization of gender and the school as a regime.Informants' stories describe how "fag" as a stigmatized object is constituted in "gossip." Aspects of youths' appearance are interpreted with reference to "fag" as an underlying pattern. Everyday practices of "fag-baiting", such as poking fun, teasing, name calling, scrawling graffiti on lockers, insulting and harassing someone, produce the "fag" as a social object. The language intends a course of action isolating the gay student and inciting to physical violence. Verbal abuse both is and initiates attack. As a form of public speech, graffiti constitute a depersonalized form of threat and harassment. Whether a gay student is identified as ''fag" or not, he acquires a gay identity/ consciousness through the practices of the ideology of "fag."What the article describes is a normal part of school organization. The social relations of heterosexuality and patriarchy dominate its public space. Being gay is never spoken of positively (in these informants' experience). Teachers are reported as being generally complicit by their silence if not actively participating in the ideology. Attacks on and ostracism of gay students are taken for granted. The heterosexism of the regime makes "fag" the stigmatized other and, reflexively, "fag" as stigmatized other feeds into the regime's heterosexism. Thus, the gay students' stories show the school's complicity in the everyday cruelties of the enforcement of heterosexisthomophobic hegemony.Gay and lesbian youth attend schools throughout the nation . . . . These students-from every ethnic and racial background, in urban, suburban, and rural schools-have sat

Adolescent Same-Sex Attraction and Academic Outcomes: The Role of School Attachment and Engagement

“…This occurs both through school rituals (e.g., prom) as well as through daily interactions between students, teachers, and administrators (Akerlof and Kranton 2002;Eder, Evans, and Parker 1995;Flowers and Buston 2001;Reed 1994;Snyder and Broadway 2004). These processes create a heterosexist environment in which nonheterosexual behaviors or relationships are denied and denigrated (American Association of University Women 2001; Plummer 2001; Smith and Smith 1998;Telljohann and Price 1993;Thurlow 2001). Romantic feelings toward others of the same sex become a stigma, an attribute that merits shame and discrimination (Goffman 1963;Herek 2004).…”

Les pratiques émergentes de lutte contre l’homophobie dans les milieux scolaires et jeunesse de l’Outaouais

“…En outre, ces résultats sont comparables aux taux recensés dans des études similaires (Émond et Bastien Charlebois, 2007). D'autres travaux réalisés en milieu scolaire démontrent que la présomption d'hétérosexualité y est souvent tenue pour acquise, que les manifestations de comportements homophobes sont considérées comme un stade « naturel » du développement des garçons et que certains professeurs sont parfois silencieux devant l'intimidation que certains jeunes subissent (Douglas, et collab., 1997;Epstein et Johnson, 1994;1998;Mac an Ghaill, 1991;Nayak et Kehily, 1996;Rivers, 1996, dans Buston et Hart, 2001Maher, et collab., 2009). Les études québécoises disponibles abondent dans le même sens.…”

A Feminist Reframing of Bullying and Harassment: Transforming schools through critical pedagogy

“…Forms of gendered harassment include (hetero)sexual harassment, homophobic harassment, and harassment for gender non-conformity (or transphobic harassment). I link these three forms of harassment because the impact of the harassers' behaviour is linked to norm-setting and policing the performance of traditional (heterosexual) gender roles (Larkin, 1994;Martino, 1995;Martino & Pallotta-Chiarolli, 2003;Renold, 2002;Smith & Smith, 1998;Stein, 1995). Although physical bullying is often the most obvious form addressed in schools, verbal bullying and harassment are also prevalent and often ignored, even though they have been found to be quite damaging to students as well.…”

“…Any student whose behaviour is perceived as different in some way can be isolated and harassed using anti-gay insults (O'Conor, 1995;Renold, 2002;Rofes, 1995;Smith & Smith, 1998), and any student who wishes to assert and defend his/her place in the heteronormative social order of the school must engage in heterosexualised discourse that includes various forms of gendered harassment (Duncan, 1999;Martino & Berrill, 2003;Renold, 2003).…”