[1][2][3] Pascoe builds upon the work of American post-structuralist philosopher Judith Butler to argue that the fag is best described as an "abject identity".

The fag epithet is one aspect of gender policing, in which boys point out and ridicule others who fail at masculinity, heterosexual prowess, or strength.

Boys call their peers a fag for a number of things, such as being incompetent, showing emotion, caring about appearances, dancing, or expressing (sexual or platonic) interest in other guys.

Though the black boys in Pascoe's study were disproportionately popular among their peers, they also faced excessive discipline from school administration.

In this instance, administrators seemed to be influenced by stereotypes of black men as being hypersexual when considering what displays were appropriate at school, while they did not attribute sexuality to the white boys.

Administrators, staff, and faculty often reinforced heteronormativity and gender essentialism in the classroom, and overlooked instances of harassment and discrimination.

Pascoe noted that these jokes were always directed towards male students, which she believes heightens the taboo of female sexuality and reinforces the idea that boys are hypersexual.

Pascoe focused heavily on a student named "Ricky", an openly gay boy whose mannerisms and behavior were stereotypically feminine.

Though Ricky was the most targeted non-normative boy at this high school, other groups dealt with insults for a perceived lack of masculinity.

Because the boys in drama club were already low in the social hierarchy of the high school, they seemed to have nothing to gain by accusing one another of being fags.

In her book review, Christine Shearer asserts that Pascoe should have represented students' perceptions and motivations for their seemingly inappropriate actions.

Despite this critique, Shearer contends, "Pascoe's analysis is understandable, however, given the many descriptions of incidents that bordered on or were clear cases of sexual harassment" (p.127).