Moving Beyond The Inclusion of Lgbt-Themed Literature in English
Moving Beyond The Inclusion of Lgbt-Themed Literature in English
Moving Beyond The Inclusion of Lgbt-Themed Literature in English
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COMMENTARY
Moving
Themed
and Exploring
Intersectionality
MollieV. Blackburn
| JillM.Smith
The
our
antihomophobia
commitment.
ment
these issues in the group and grappling with them in theirwork in schools.
all of the conversations that initially ensued were occupied with prac
tical and theoretical antihomophobic strategizing and emotional bolstering for
Almost
straight allies. From the outset, it seemed that every group member had clear
understandings ofwhat explicit homophobic language and actions looked like
in their schools and classrooms and had strong ideas about what theywanted
to do to stop it. Combating
texts
homophobia by using LGBTQ-themed
seemed to accomplish thework we set out for ourselves. We found, however,
two shortcomings of this approach, one related to heteronormativity and an
other related to intersectionality.
By heteronormativity we mean
625
we were working
against homophobia
a largely heteronormative framework was
and Lauren?another
evident, particularly toMollie
contexts, were
insisting that LGB
teachers needed to be out in their classrooms, Anette
was asserting that racial identities and racialized dy
namics needed
That
within
to persuasive
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out-of-school
conducted
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and
out-of-school
contexts.
Heteronormativity
examine
with
LGBTQ
youth
in
is limited, we
is not.
is normal and homosexuality
is
of
the
collection
practices and
Heteronormativity
heterosexuality
of "straight,"
as one
of many
orientations,
is normal.
is
problematic,
heteronorma
dichotomy
mon
an
act
that
embodies
"com
sense"
1989).
(Fairclough,
enforcement
of
gender
Typically,
roles in schools starts immediately
and women,
unexamined
in mainstream
conversations
about
concerned edu
education; it is simply inplace.When
cators call for acknowledgment, heteronormativity
draws skepticism unparallel to any other school issue.
Rich
(1980), though, provoked us to address hetero
normativity as an institution, recognizing that it is an
oppressive institution inmuch the same way that clas
sism and racism are.With that inmind, we turn our
attention to this institution.
Perhaps themost foundational way that schools
enforce the institution of heteronormativity
is
through their establishment of rigid gender roles.
From the time they enter school, students are system
ically calibrated with "normal" characterizations of
one of the two gender assignments, male or female,
and thesemanipulations,
in turn, are used to inform
and
enforce
heteronormative
school
cultures,
curri
room
marked
"Handicapped."
(Bakhtin,
school,
are
students
systemically
calibrated
with
"normal"
characterizations
assignments,
or female.
heterosexual
love,
sex,
and marriage
are
cen
(or encourag[e])
students to identifywith
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for such
adaptations.
enforcements
serious
have
One
consequences.
im
"designate^] that
grid of cultural intelligibility through which bodies,
genders, and desires are naturalized"
(p. 151). This
matrix
there
represents a complex
are
environment
sites where
innumerable
in which
heteronormative
the
best
"confused"
circumstances,
stu
gender
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nurses
and
are
coaches
female,
are male,
and
teacher
in which
secretaries
positions
ad
and
can
and
career
center
(nurse
opportunities
versus
automotive
less obvious
It is not
schools.
uncommon
for seniors
to camp
next
because
and
male-dominance.
These
or
as
soccer
players)
are
gay,
I hate
you
too."
The
are, in short, a
metaphorical rape.
We
recognize these literacy practices ideologi
cal (Street, 1995). Specifically we understand them as
saturated with hateful values, but, as is characteristic
of thatwhich
is heteronormative,
the textswere
read
of
the heteronormative
Discourses
(Gee,
went
unnoticed.
among male
athletes. This
These
Heteronormative
performances
as usual"
but
as usual.
silence
more
you were
"Your
wife's
such
a
an
attractive
man,
Mr.
Jones"
or
lucky woman."
it is a
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The multiple
is based
approach
on an additive
in which
model
categories
of difference
are
as
understood
the sta
by maintaining
tus quo
2001;
(Mayo,
Meyer, 2008). Dynamics
like these have become
ritualized in that the same
made
and
they have
consequently,
become a way of calling
the staffmeeting,
indeed
another.
are
comments
to one
parallel
inflicted
matrix.
by
environments
their heteronormative
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2008).
(Atkinson & DePalma,
One of Jill's closeted students, for example, wrote
and performed a skit for her class. In it, she assigned
herself the role of an adult who corrected adolescents
for using the phrase, "That's so gay!" in hallways. The
skit ends with the teens vowing never to offend again;
in turn, the adult rewards them with
their favorite
characterized as
normal
in schools.
Intersectionality
Recent
made
Blackburn
policy,
andMcCready
training,
resources,
curricula,
and
extracur
and what
it has
come
to mean.
Moreover,
which
would
Hancock
asserted,
fosters
cooperation
rath
tion, Kumashiro
to reflect not on who
With
both Hancock's
(2007)
and Kumashiro's
would
group.
to take amultiple approach to analyz
ing the group, and if our audience was thewomen's
group itself, then our foci might be race and class,
Ifwe were
make
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thatworks
and members'
reminds us of how
structural domain
do not usually
school-based,
The
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LGBTQ
youths
who
came
to
the women's
and Latino
a result, the
group
were
administrative move
affected thework of
among
Dara
was
was
concealed,
even
though
end of the
transgender
and
another
female-to-male
who
was
own
transphobia.
To
within
identities.Many
Beyond Inclusivity
on LGBTQ
people can distract from the
problem of heterosexism and homophobia. That is
people, we sometimes let
by attending to LGBTQ
Focusing
people, misses
of
work
and
oppression?heterosexism
homophobia?in
ways
tionality
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