| This study is an ethnographic examination of five college student peer groups at State University, a large midwestern research university. Groups studied included fraternity men, sorority women, dormitory residents, cheerleaders, and gay and lesbian students.;The data reveal that social status on campus was heavily influenced by heterosexism, homophobia and sexism. These dynamics worked together to create a complex cultural logic of status and sexuality which equated status with heteronormativity, or one's perceived heterosexuality. Students who were not appropriately heteronormative stood little chance of gaining access to high status peer groups, and students who transgressed these norms were sometimes further marginalized within their own lower-status peer group. Peer groups existed in, and reproduced, a "culture of heteronormativity.".;In sum, the cultural context of college life at State University celebrated and privileged certain forms of masculinity and femininity while stigmatizing others. Heterosexism, homophobia and sexism worked together to perpetuate this stratification. Findings from this study have powerful implications for understanding the social reproduction of gender dynamics, and highlight the necessity of including examinations of heterosexism and homophobia in studies of oppression and oppressed groups. |
