Limitations of focussing on homophobic, biphobic and transphobic ‘bullying’ to understand and address LGBT young people's experiences within and beyond school

Abstract

This paper presents new empirical data that highlights how a focus on 'bullying' is too limited and narrow when thinking about homophobia, biphobia and transphobia that young people may experience. The paper draws on two recent studies with young lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans participants, which each identified issues and experiences not readily captured within dominant bullying discourses and understandings. Findings are examined within three sections: beyond 'bullying', questioning inevitability, and (in)appropriate responses. In conclusion, I set out some implications and suggestions for the development of practice and future research concerning homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in youth settings.

Para uma visão complexa do bullying homofóbico: Desocultando o quotidiano da homofobia nas escolas

“…Em primeiro lugar, o conceito parece ser incapaz de ilustrar, descrever e explicar todas as formas de violência homofóbica (e, sobretudo, heteronormativa) da e na escola que não podem ser confinadas a uma noção restritiva e monolítica de bullying (Formby 2015), mas podem envolver formas de violência heteronormativa ou institucional da escola (e.g., negligência) (Formby 2015). Como salienta Pascoe (2013), a noção de bullying parece referir-se mais a processos circunstanciais de agressão, esquecendo-se de uma abordagem mais sistemática e estrutural sobre os processos opressivos de discriminação.…”

School toilets: queer, disabled bodies and gendered lessons of embodiment

“…For example, Lundblad, Hellstom and colleagues' widely cited work across Swedish and English schools suggests that students could fear being bullied for making toilet sounds/smells (Vernon, Lundblad, and Hellstrom 2003;Lundblad and Hellström 2005;Lundblad, Berg, and Hellström 2007). Following Formby (2015) and Payne and Smith's (2012) critical interrogations of bullying, we want to argue here that the problem should not be reduced to individual and individualised cases of bullying, but should be thought of more widely in regards to 'civilising' processes of fear, shame and embarrassment that children (to different extents) learn to feel about their bodies (Blumenthal 2014) in space and place. Rather than frame the fear of being heard or smelt in the school toilet as a fear of bullying, our argument is that it would be more productive to think about embodied cultural anxieties of the toilet and the ways in which lessons in shame and privacy (Blumenthal 2014) vary dependent upon socio-spatial positioning.…”

How should we ‘care’ for LGBT+ students within higher education?

“…Within research on the lives of young lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people, school-based experiences of homophobic, (and to a lesser extent) biphobic and transphobic (HBT) bullying often dominate (Airton, 2013;Formby, 2015). Whilst there is increasing policy, practice and lay awareness of HBT bullying, growing academic arguments also point to the potential downside of the prevailing 'victim' discourses that this tends to result in (Ellis, 2007;Formby, 2015;Rofes, 2004).…”

“…Whilst there is increasing policy, practice and lay awareness of HBT bullying, growing academic arguments also point to the potential downside of the prevailing 'victim' discourses that this tends to result in (Ellis, 2007;Formby, 2015;Rofes, 2004). The field of literature on LGBT experiences of higher education (HE) is smaller but shows a somewhat similar trend in its focus on experiences of discrimination, prejudice and bullying on campus.…”