Queering the (Ab)Normalization of Gender, (Hetero)Sexuality and Schooling in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Schools are places where youth do work on the construction of their sexual identities which is intimately connected with issues around gender. Using one-on-one in-depth interviews, this article addresses how queer youth navigate dominant understandings of gender and sexuality in the context of their identity and practice. Cognizant of how gender remains a significant force in organizing social relations in schools, the youth parody and abnormalize heteronormativity calling into question the fragility of hegemonic heterosexuality. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that despite evidence that associates schooling with social exclusion, the queer youth’s accounts highlight, strikingly, that queer identity and inclusion are not necessarily separate storylines. Offering an alternative view of the schooling experiences of queer youth, the paper motivates that within exclusion, in a matter of speaking with all its unduly assemblages, is inclusion.

KEYWORDS:

• Queer
• youth
• heteronormativity
• homophobia
• schooling
• South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In post-apartheid South Africa, inequality has not declined. Nattrass and Seekings (2001, p. 471) argue that the democratically elected government, in addition to inheriting a redistributive set of social policies, including education, have also made changes that entail even more redistribution which has not benefitted the poor and unemployed. In fact, with a Gini coefficient ranging from about 0.660 to 0.696, South Africa has high levels of inequality and is one of the most unequal countries in the world (Bhorat, 2013).

2. Life Orientation (LO) is a learning area and examinable subject in South African schools. It comprises a diverse number of components: guidance, life skills education, health promotion, physical development and movement, environmental education, citizenship and human rights education and religion education.

3. The matric dance or ball in South Africa may be equated to the senior prom in the US. It is held in the final year (Grade 12) and consists of a formal dinner and dance party afterward. The matric dance is one example of how schools prescribe compulsory heterosexuality through the regulation and normalization of gender norms and heteronormative practices.

4. Usually a vulgar reference for feces, rubbish or stuff.

5. An androgynous character from the Commedia Dell Arte, who strategizes to foil his Lord’s plans (Fisher, 1992).

6. Phew or expressing surprise.

7. The Representative Council of Learners (RCL) is a governance structure of learners that serve as a mediator between the learner body and the management of the school.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the: National Research Foundation: [Grant Number CPRR13082330440]; National Research Foundation [Grant Number Education Research South Africa 13110857621].