Insults come in all shapes and sizes. For boys however, there is no greater insult than being called a faggot. Boys are socially constructed to be homophobic and this is reinforced daily throughout their lives on a daily basis. By dissecting boyhood in terms of homophobia and compulsive heterosexuality, it is obvious that the "f word" is a driving force behind it all. That's right. Just one word helps to socialize a whole 50 percent of the world's youth.
Let's talk about homophobia for a minute. I, a straight male find it interesting that in terms of homophobia, it is “disgusting” for men to be with men but inversely, if guys were to talk about lesbians they seem to not only tolerate them, but fantasize over them. Adding to this concept, adolescent girls do not go around calling each other faggots or any other derogatory term just for the sake of doing so the way boys do. The socialization of boyhood revolves so much around violence and inconsiderate behavior. Why do you think there are so many instances where young gay teens struggle with their identity? Because all their lives they were told that being gay is the worst thing that could happen. Boys fight against it day in and day out.
What's even more interesting is the term “faggot” does not have anything to do with actually being gay. This is explained in an interview with rapper, Eminem. The conversation brought up a new phenomenon which is now referred to as the "Eminem Exception" in which Eminem explains that he doesn’t call people fags because of their sexual orientation, but because they are being weak or unmanly. While it is not necessarily acceptable to be gay, if a man were to be gay and masculine, he does not deserve the insult. In adolescence, it becomes a bit more complicated however. Anyone can be called a fag for any reason and it just becomes a way of socializing each other. Boys tend to joke and be aggressive and unemotional, so when they are called a faggot, all they have to do is overcompensate by performing compulsive heterosexuality.
Queue the violence, rash behavior, and the f word.
Being gay isn't a bad thing. Duh. It's 2015. I think we should all be able to accept that by now (if you can't, then please return to your cave and don't come out until you've thought about your irrational reasoning). However, being called a faggot is hurtful. Whether you are gay, straight, bisexual -- whatever -- no one should ever have to be called such a derogatory word, ever.
Especially not as a young boy.
