Sociologist C.J. Pascoe has conducted groundbreaking research on youth, gender, sexuality and homophobia.

Fascinated by how teenage boys come to see themselves as masculine, Pascoe spent 18 months following male students at a California high school and noted a striking phenomenon: They attempt to demonstrate their masculinity by hurling gay slurs at one another. “To call someone gay is like the lowest thing you can call someone,” one teenage boy told Pascoe. “That’s like saying that you’re nothing.”

Pascoe will present Bullied: Youth, Gender, and Homophobia, this year’s William R. Johnson Intercultural Lecture, on Wednesday, October 22, at Elmhurst College.

Pascoe is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Oregon. She also is the chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Sex and Gender. Her work has been featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and in a Frontline documentary. Pascoe also has worked with the Digital Youth Project, part of the MacArthur Foundation’s initiative in learning and new media. With other researchers, she co-authored Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Living and Learning with New Media, the largest qualitative study to date of how youth use new media.

Pascoe’s talk will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 22, in the Founders Lounge of the Frick Center. Admission is $10 for the general public and free for Elmhurst College students, faculty, staff and alumni. Tickets are available online or at the door. For more information, call (630) 617-3390.