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school-based homophobia
Nov. 18th, 2004 02:12 pmI'm gearing up to start my next publication project: an article on school-based homophobia. The data are from the interviews I did with Sydney (n=15) and Vancouver (n=12) queer (gay, queer, bisexual) men (17-24 years old) in 2003 and 2004. The study was about the construction of the queer self, and how that process is culturally derived. A spike in HIV among men 18-29 in Vancouver (which hasn't yet happened here in Sydney) was the inspiration for the project.
I didn't ask about school and homophobia: I asked the guys about their lives, starting from early childhood onwards. I'm not using a developmental model (I'm a sociologist, Jim, not amagician psychologist)--but chronology is a natural, comfortable way for people to speak of their lived experience. I asked about: family, school, sex/sexuality, learning about gay/homosexual, coming out, seeking community (including lovers and playmates) and now.
The narratives about school were, with few exceptions, terrible. Several of the guys' experiences would constitute war crimes, were they committed in a conflict zone. We're talking hunting, torturing, humiliating--often with school officials being complicit. Only 1 guy claimed to have never seen any homophobia in his school. The "best" experiences were those of guys whose presentation didn't overtly challenge rigid notions of gender and masculinity: in other words, guys who could "pass" as str8. Though that eliminate fear, anxiety, isolation and depression.
Having a supportive family helped--if the guy knew it safe to come out (many didn't). But what helped more was when school staff actively fought homophobia, something much more common in the Vancouver schools it seems. And the sooner the guys connected to queer youth services (as opposed to "the scene"--bars clubs etc--which most found lacking), the sooner their perspective changed. And their senses of selves transformed. The developments about gay marriage in Canada (and conversely in Australia) also greatly informed these guys' sense of their value to (Canadian or Australian) society. The Canadian men not only felt more valued, they felt more entitled--whereas the Australian lads were nearly all pessimistic about their status (my interviews in Sydney predate the gay marriage ban being table BTW).
Bottom line: family is important, civil entitlement is great, but for queer teens, it's school--and it's concomitant culture of homophobia--that is the greatest factor in how young queer men construct their selves. To fight homophobia is school is to fight sexism (a 'defective' male is an effeminate one: an indictment of females), injustice and ignorance. And depression and suicidality. It is, to use Australian parlance, about giving everyone "a fair go".
I start writing in earnest tomorrow, but this post is significantly inspired by This Article about how some Muslim parents are trying to pressure Toronto's public schools from integrating anti-homophobia education into the high school curriculum.
Fuck anyone who uses a religious argument to hierarchize (and therefore de-prioritize) the fight against homophobia. In particular, fuck anyone who benefits from such protections for them and theirs, but who is quick to withhold such guarantees for others.
Fuck 'em. Fuck you. I'm tired of your shit. And so are most Canadians
I didn't ask about school and homophobia: I asked the guys about their lives, starting from early childhood onwards. I'm not using a developmental model (I'm a sociologist, Jim, not a
The narratives about school were, with few exceptions, terrible. Several of the guys' experiences would constitute war crimes, were they committed in a conflict zone. We're talking hunting, torturing, humiliating--often with school officials being complicit. Only 1 guy claimed to have never seen any homophobia in his school. The "best" experiences were those of guys whose presentation didn't overtly challenge rigid notions of gender and masculinity: in other words, guys who could "pass" as str8. Though that eliminate fear, anxiety, isolation and depression.
Having a supportive family helped--if the guy knew it safe to come out (many didn't). But what helped more was when school staff actively fought homophobia, something much more common in the Vancouver schools it seems. And the sooner the guys connected to queer youth services (as opposed to "the scene"--bars clubs etc--which most found lacking), the sooner their perspective changed. And their senses of selves transformed. The developments about gay marriage in Canada (and conversely in Australia) also greatly informed these guys' sense of their value to (Canadian or Australian) society. The Canadian men not only felt more valued, they felt more entitled--whereas the Australian lads were nearly all pessimistic about their status (my interviews in Sydney predate the gay marriage ban being table BTW).
Bottom line: family is important, civil entitlement is great, but for queer teens, it's school--and it's concomitant culture of homophobia--that is the greatest factor in how young queer men construct their selves. To fight homophobia is school is to fight sexism (a 'defective' male is an effeminate one: an indictment of females), injustice and ignorance. And depression and suicidality. It is, to use Australian parlance, about giving everyone "a fair go".
I start writing in earnest tomorrow, but this post is significantly inspired by This Article about how some Muslim parents are trying to pressure Toronto's public schools from integrating anti-homophobia education into the high school curriculum.
Fuck anyone who uses a religious argument to hierarchize (and therefore de-prioritize) the fight against homophobia. In particular, fuck anyone who benefits from such protections for them and theirs, but who is quick to withhold such guarantees for others.
Fuck 'em. Fuck you. I'm tired of your shit. And so are most Canadians
