The “problem” of bodies and desires in teaching

Abstract

In this article I use a combination of feminist and psychoanalytic theories to understand the surfacing of sexualized discourse in secondary classrooms as a manifestation of suppressed pedagogical eroticism. I illustrate this phenomenon with an incident that Sheila, one of my participants in a study of sexual dynamics in pre‐service teachers' classrooms, relayed as an example of a Freudian slip: The time she unconsciously drew a penis on the board. Narrative analysis provides the methodological framework for understanding how Sheila used this story and others to construct her identity as a sexy teacher. I call for a space to share these kinds of stories so that teachers can better understand the sometimes‐sexualized dimension of their teaching and to view sexual dynamics in the classroom as a condition to be lived with rather than a problem to be solved.

Notes

* Department of Language Education, College of Education, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, US. Email: [email protected]

I met a teacher at this year's AERA annual meeting who said his school had instituted a rule governing touch: If teachers wanted to praise or comfort their students, the only acceptable way to do so physically was to pat them, palm‐up, on their heads.

All names are pseudonyms.

I use the feminine pronoun here and throughout because I studied women teachers; I do not know if men can be sexy teachers. I think they can—I’ve certainly known a few in my day—but I will leave it to future research(ers) to describe what that looks like or how it differs from my definition.

Capital‐lettered words in segments of the transcript indicate emphasis.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tara Star Johnson *

* Department of Language Education, College of Education, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, US. Email: [email protected]