The School Act Of Building Student s Sexuality And Gender

Political systems The school acts as an important agent of building student’s sexuality and gender. According to Pascoe, high school acts as a primary socialization institution, and is central to building gender and sexuality in the society. The school administration seems to oppose the expressive behavior of teenagers. School officials uses their power to set up dress code, rules for appropriate behavior, and also on language, in order to promote a culturally constructed â€Å"healthy† environment in the campus. The school, in this case, plays a role of government and a leadership position. They have the monopoly over the use of force, although further regulated by the federal government, it suffices to control and regulate students.†¦show more content†¦These gender specific instructions intersects with racial specific instructions and inevitably shape the minds of these students at River High, of what is masculine, feminine, natural, weak, queer and so on. Authority figures like coaches or popular teachers are also crucial in telling teenagers what is masculine and feminine. They come to direct contact with the students day to day. Their authority allows them to â€Å"cause others to act based on characteristics such as honor, status, respect† according to Nada and Warms (209). Their behavior and opinion are more easily accepted and incorporated by the students. When a coach mocks his students in a male auto-shop class for not being strong enough, or precise enough, the coach establishes a standard for the class that â€Å"boys are supposed to be strong, precise, smart, systematic† and so on. When a female teacher asks the boys in the class to hand out condoms that they hid in their wallet, she establishes even more complex notion about sex and gender (which will be addressed in the Sex and Gender section). These authority figures discourage certain activities like dressing inappropriately or sexual expression, but they also encourage certain activities. They promote heteronormative practices and they seem to reward students for being â€Å"normal.† A pat on the back or a â€Å"steppin up† for the boys that started dating or students that got their first kiss affirms