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This course examines three overarching ideas. First, it examines the heteronormative structure of schools and how this structure reproduces expectations for who youth are supposed to “be”—both as current students and as future adults. This inquiry around the reproduction and production of heteronormativity will take up curriculum, pedagogy, social hierarchies, questions of surveillance, and the regulation of gender norms to patrol sexuality. Second, it will explore the position of teachers within this heteronormative institutional structure. This will include examining common perceptions of “safe and supportive” learning environments for Queer youth, limitations of such a framework, teachers’ experiences of resisting heteronormative policies and practices, and possibilities for disruptive pedagogy. Third, critical examinations of the “safety,” “tolerance” and “bullying” discourses shaping the U.S. conversation around Queer youths’ school experiences will be a fundamental theme in this course. The course is based on research in sociology of education and the research experience of Elizabethe Payne, PhD, and Melissa Smith, MA, ABD with the Queering Education Research Institute (QuERI).
Student Feedback“This class gave me hope. There are ways to create change.”“I realize now that bullying is because of heteronormativity and heterosexism and aren’t isolated incidents.”“Bullying = Gender Policing- I would never have gotten that on my own.”“The readings challenged me to think outside the box and give critical thought to ‘normality’”“I became more aware of my heterosexism and my impact on the social climate of the classroom. ““This course forced me to consider the ways I regulate and categorize others and to disrupt that process.”