In
“At Least I’m Not Gay”, Froyum explores how heterosexual identities are
constructed among inner city African American youths in order to gain access to
privilege they otherwise lack. Froyum’s article really shows us a couple of
things. This article provides excellent evidence of how race, class and gender
work congruently during the construction of social definitions. Froyum clearly
shows how the youth’s construction of heterosexuality is related to their race
and class. She also isolates the ideologies the teenagers hold about sexuality.
I
thought one of Froyum’s most interesting insights was the teenagers’ use of
social constructionism and individualism to reconcile their beliefs about the
immoral nature of homosexuality with their continued affection for their gay or
bisexual friends and relatives. This isn’t the first time I have heard this
kind of logic surrounding homosexuality. One of my friends from my hometown was
a deeply religious person who believed that according to the bible
homosexuality was a sin. We got in many arguments about this and he would
frequently protest that this didn’t mean he hated people who were gay or
thought anything bad about him. He once told me that he viewed people being gay
as the same thing as his sister choosing to live with her boyfriend before
marriage. He didn’t approve of it but it was their personal choice. I pointed
out that the problem with this type of reasoning was that he didn’t want to
pass laws saying that people who lived together before marriage could never get
married. And as evidenced by Froyum, this ideology of individualism also
complicated things for inner city youth who constantly regulated themselves in
the hopes of not “going gay”.
Froyum’s
article also clearly shows just how dependent on social context ideas like
heterosexuality or gender are. The youth’s heterosexuality or gender wasn’t something
they created on their own or were self-secure in. It was something that must be
constantly affirmed by everyone around them. This was especially visible to me
in the behavior of the girls who moved away from being “tomboys” because of the
social pressure of their peers. They began to doubt their own femininity and
consequently their heterosexuality because of the reactions of their peers.
In your last paragraph, you talk about how girls move away from being "tomboys" due to social pressures. I found this interesting in Froyum's article as well because my mom used to always tell me my "tomboy" look was just a phase. But in actuality, I stopped wearing athletic shorts, baggy shirts, and sneakers because I remember being tormented by my peers and even my grandparents who would make snide remarks at my boyish appearance. I had a very short haircut during my "tomboy" phase and remember being called a boy on the playground by the other children. From that point on, I grew out my hair and my mom bought me a lot more dresses. I know she was just trying to protect me. But who exactly was she trying to protect me from? Society constructs these homophobic and gender ideals that if you stray from, you face hateful words and ostracization. Society taught my peers, who taught me that as a woman, I wasn't supposed to dress in boy clothes. It upsets me that society really doesn't allow an individual to completely be themselves.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Brooke I was stuck by how influential society is to the attitude held towards sexuality help by the students at UYN. I was struck by just how the ideas that homosexuality was a personal choice or something that could “rub off” regulated the actions of these students. I also liked her point about how girls would react to tomboys and the idea. I was a tomboy throughout grade school and still don’t consider myself particularly girly. But this unlike homosexuality was a personal choice. Much of the confusion surrounding homosexuality stems from society and how it affects the perception of others. Society constructs the assumption that a tomboy means that you are not a girl and possibly mean that you are gay. I think what is lost is the fact that you do not choice your sexuality and it cannot be constructed by your peers or family. Why is it that in our modern society that this is not more common knowledge?
ReplyDeleteIn your post, you talk about how your friend saw homosexuality as a choice, in the same way he saw his sister and her boyfriend living together before marriage as a choice. I thought this was a really interesting point to bring up because many of the kids interviewed for the article held the same view. I was shocked that these kids saw homosexuality as a "choice" and believed that somebody could become gay by spending too much time with a gay person or people of the opposite sex. One girl in particular, Shirlisa, stood out to me. Shirlisa had a brother who had come out as gay. Even though she said she still loved him, she was disappointed in what she saw as his chosen lifestyle, and believed that he probably decided to become gay after seeing two men kissing. Overall, I was very taken aback by the attitudes of the kids interviewed. I felt like they saw homosexuality as a disease, something that was highly contagious. Thus, they learned to avoid gay people at all costs.
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