Gay and lesbian literature disrupting the heteronormative space of the high school English classroom

Helmer, Kirsten

doi:10.1080/14681811.2015.1042574

Cited by 26 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Students exhibited increased normalization of lesbian and gay people, a reduction in stereotyping about gender expression and norms for lesbian and gay women and men, empathy for those who come out, an appreciation for the positive aspects of being lesbian and gay, a recognition that sexual orientation does not have to correlate with sexual behavior, and lower use of homophobic slurs [19]. Strategies that use literature featuring gay and lesbian characters have also resulted in lowered homophobia and homophobic behaviors both at the elementary school level [17] and in high school [20,22,23].…”

Section: Appreciation Of Sexual Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education

Goldfarb

Lieberman

2021

Journal of Adolescent Health

354

196

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School-based sex education plays a vital role in the sexual health and well-being of young people. Little is known, however, about the effectiveness of efforts beyond pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention. The authors conducted a systematic literature review of three decades of research on school-based programs to find evidence for the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education. Methods: Researchers searched the ERIC, PsycINFO, and MEDLINE. The research team identified papers meeting the systematic literature review criteria. Of 8,058 relevant articles, 218 met specific review criteria. More than 80% focused solely on pregnancy and disease prevention and were excluded, leaving 39. In the next phase, researchers expanded criteria to studies outside the U.S. to identify evidence reflecting the full range of topic areas. Eighty articles constituted the final review. Results: Outcomes include appreciation of sexual diversity, dating and intimate partner violence prevention, development of healthy relationships, prevention of child sex abuse, improved social/ emotional learning, and increased media literacy. Substantial evidence supports sex education beginning in elementary school, that is scaffolded and of longer duration, as well as LGBTQeinclusive education across the school curriculum and a social justice approach to healthy sexuality. Conclusions: Review of the literature of the past three decades provides strong support for comprehensive sex education across a range of topics and grade levels. Results provide evidence for the effectiveness of approaches that address a broad definition of sexual health and take positive, affirming, inclusive approaches to human sexuality. Findings strengthen justification for the widespread adoption of the National Sex Education Standards.

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Section: Appreciation Of Sexual Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education

Goldfarb

Lieberman

2021

Journal of Adolescent Health

354

196

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The fields of English education and literacy studies include many queer pedagogues who have created additional frameworks to consider queer identities and queering pedagogy under a social justice umbrella, including Miller (2015Miller ( , 2016, Helmer (2016), and Leent and Mills (2018), that can be considered crosscurricularly. Miller's (2016) queer literacy framework offers educators a way to be inclusive of transgender and gender-nonconforming students and "is intended to be an autonomous, ongoing, nonhierarchical tool within a teaching repertoire; it is not something someone does once and moves away from" (p. 33), highlighting the need for an ongoing commitment to social justice.…”

Section: Framework For Using Queer Pedagogy In Social Justice Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Helmer's (2016) work specifically references critical literacy (Luke, 2012), which is an intentionally political approach to literature that asks students to consider issues of power relations within texts, and is frequently used in literacy instruction for social justice. The queer literacies approach (Helmer, 2016; (not to be confused with Miller's simultaneously developed queer literacy framework)) was developed from her ethnographic study of a gay and lesbian literature course at a public high school. Helmer (2016) offered six dimensions for her queer literacies framework: (1) recognizing as legitimate bodies of knowledge and making the focus of inquiry the stories, experiences, cultures, histories, and politics of LGBTQI people; (2) developing an understanding of the dynamics of oppression related to normative systems of regulation of sexuality, gender, and sex (i.e., homophobia, heterosexism, heteronormativity, cissexism, genderism, transphobia); (3) troubling commonsense, partial and distorted understandings of sexuality, sex, and gender; (4) using the critical method of deconstruction for the literary and social analysis of discourse and text; (5) engaging with and producing counter-narratives that open spaces for new imaginings about sexuality, gender, and sex; and (6) creating spaces where students can enter and work through feelings of discomfort and crisis.…”

Section: Framework For Using Queer Pedagogy In Social Justice Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Queer Theory/Pedagogy and Social Justice Education

Pennell

2020

Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education

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Queer theory and pedagogy can inform social justice education in ways that have teachers and researchers question how their teaching practices and philosophies reinforce social norms such as heteronormativity. Queer theory is post-structuralist, and while it is most often used to analyze queer subjects, it can be used to analyze the social and institutional norms in any subject. Queer pedagogy, stemming from queer theory's call to deconstruct heteronormativity and other boundaries, works to expand the way we look at educational practices and research. Through it, one can examine the norms, boundaries, and limitations of not only curriculum and teaching practices but also schooling and learning as concepts. This chapter first offers a brief history of queer theory and then gives background information on queer pedagogy's origins and recent definitions and manifestations. Then, frameworks for using queer pedagogy specifically with

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“…For example, Leyva (2016) considered intersectional approaches to mathematical literacies in an effort to provide Latinx college women with visibility within STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. Similarly, Helmer (2016) and Rosiek, Schmitke, and Heffernan (2017) examined the ways that intersectional literacies provided spaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) students to read, write, and discuss themselves in classrooms. Extending the #BlackGirlMagic Movement, Troutman and Jimenez (2016) applied an intersectional approach to literacy practices that supported Black girls in order to encourage activism and to emphasize the value of personal experiences in educational settings.…”

Section: Intersectional Literaciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Queering Intersectional Literacies to Redefine Female Sexualities: A Case Study

Shelton

2018

Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice

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Based on a 1-year interview-based case study of a preservice English teacher, this article considers the limitations of both intersectional literacies and reader-based responses to texts. In an effort to address students' problematic discussions of female sexuality, the participant implemented a queer pedagogy that emphasized alterity, or the examination of "other," while pushing students into spaces of discomfort and uncertainty. Using Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Tale" as the basis of her approach, the teacher and her students' engagement with literacy practices necessarily shifted when they began to interrogate cultural norms and sites of uneasiness in relation to school-mandated texts. The article concludes with a discussion of the ways that literacy practices are necessarily and constantly mediated through sociopolitical contexts and personal understandings, though readers' individual perspectives cannot be the sole basis of reading practices.

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Gay and lesbian literature disrupting the heteronormative space of the high school English classroom

Cited by 26 publications

References 23 publications

Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education

Three Decades of Research: The Case for Comprehensive Sex Education

Queer Theory/Pedagogy and Social Justice Education

Queering Intersectional Literacies to Redefine Female Sexualities: A Case Study

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