As I read through Pascoe's book, I was immediately brought back to the halls of my high school. Reading the descriptions of the sexist events, responses from administration and school policies.
Throughout middle school and high school, our administration was notorious for making girls change if their outfits were deemed "inappropriate." This would include short shorts/skirts, thin straps, etc. One year, as a senior prank, a large group of guys all wore short shorts or spandex to school to prove a point that no one ever reprimands guys for the clothing choices they make. The prank got a lot of laughs, and sure enough, not a single one of them were asked to change their clothes -- even the ones that wore nothing on the bottom but their tight spandex shorts that the cheerleaders would wear under their skirts. In my opinion, these boys were doing this more as a joke, but it definitely got a strong point across.
Aside from this, and more towards the assignment, are suggestions for schools to implement to get away from the traditional image of masculinity that causes harm to both boys and girls.
One thing is to include both boys and girls in all sex education classes from elementary on. By secluding them, it makes the idea of sex taboo and suggests that girls and boys do not need to know the same information.
Another suggestion is to incorporate discussions about gender, such as in a class like this, in all mandatory health and/or sex classes. Ideally, all schools could make a whole mandatory class dedicated to the topics, but realistically a lesson and discussion would be a good start for now.
Thirdly, all faculty, staff and administration members should have proper training and their own education and the topic of gender equality when teaching, interacting with and disciplining students.
Although these are not the only suggestions, they are a good start to helping with the idea of unrealistic masculinity in schools.
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