ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests a way to reconcile the seeming contradiction posed by twin trends – young men invoking a fag discourse to shore up masculine identities and straight men's increasing support for gay rights and gender equality. Boys invoked the fag in two ways: through humorous imitation and through lobbing the epithet at one another. Boys at River High imitated the fag by acting out an exaggerated "femininity" and/or by pretending to sexually desire other boys. Differences between white boys' and African-American boys' meaning making around clothes and dancing reveal ways in which the fag as the abject position is racialized. Ben draws on indicators of a fag identity, such as limp wrists, as do the boys in the introductory vignette to illustrate that a masculine person certainly would not care about having dirty clothes. A fag discourse works in ways that establish and reinforce clear boundaries between gay and straight.
