The aim of this article is to challenge heteronormative as well as homonormative practices in English language teaching. In doing so, the paper demonstrates that both complete absence of LGBTQI+ references in ELT materials, as well as recent attempts to provide more inclusive approaches to materials design and classroom practices, can be problematic for L2 learners irrespective of their sexuality. The paper traces current developments in ELT materials design with regards to inclusive classroom practices and argues that attempts towards exclusivity may reflect (hetero/homo)normative views, and can therefore perpetuate a culture—learning and otherwise—of discrimination and social exclusion. It concludes by identifying the need for an alternative approach—one that does not focus on inclusion but on diversity.
Following the work of Hellman, this paper examines homosexism (the stigmatisation of non-penetrative sexual activities of men who have sex with men as nonsexual practices) in relation to hegemony, masculinity, and sexuality theories. In doing so, it discusses the function of sides, men who have sex with men but do not engage in penetrative sexual practices, in relation to the maintenance of established, normative, and damaging notions of masculinities. The central question this paper addresses is what the significance of the stigmatisation of sides is. In addressing this question, the potential of sides to facilitate and inhibit normative hegemonic structures is considered while more in-depth research is deemed necessary. The aim of this paper is to extend the discussion on homosexism, acknowledge non-penetrative sexual practices as legitimate forms of sexual expression, and encourage further scholarly research that focuses on the potential of sides to challenge and subvert established normative understandings of genders and sexualities, as well as the power structures that are involved in the construction of such understandings.
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