The Performance of Homophobia in Early Adolescents' Everyday Speech

ABSTRACT

Using written language of early adolescents at a California middle school, this study investigated seventh grade students' perspectives on the frequency of hearing and using homophobic name-calling, reasons such language gets used, and reactions to hearing others use it. Students reported widespread use of homophobic name-calling but disagreed about what it means. Most saw it as innocuous banter or generic insult, but others cast it as gender-identity putdown, LGBT slur, or speech that injures even when LGBT people are not present. Students rarely challenged the name-calling. Analyses suggest that pre- and early-adolescents may benefit from instruction in language and power; in ways homophobic name-calling injures; and in how to be allies and advocates, confronting injurious speech among peers.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• bullying
• curriculum
• gay
• gender norms
• harassment
• homophobia
• language
• lesbian
• middle school
• name-calling
• pedagogy
• youth

Steven Z. Athanases, PhD, Stanford University, is Associate Professor, School of Education, University of California, Davis

Tess A. Comar, MA, University of California, Los Angeles, teaches middle school English/Language Arts in Los Angeles

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, 2004.

The authors thank Rebecca Ambrose and Mollie Blackburn for critical feedback on an earlier draft of this article.

Notes

¹ See Holmes & Cahill (2004) for a summary of this work.