The Dangerous Staircase: Exploring Sexuality Between Teachers and Students

Abstract

The link between pedagogy and sexuality is an educational twilight zone both dangerous and full of possibilities. Being such a controversial and sensitive issue, teachers should have a safe space to discuss it. I suggest that fiction manages to capture the evasive nature of the subject. To illustrate this point, I analyze the novel Up the Down Staircase (1965) by Bel Kaufman, and show how it may serve as a good starting point for teachers willing to confront this complex issue.

Notes

¹http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101025003305AAMG8HL. This forum allows access to an uninhibited discussion that is not available elsewhere. It is a good example of the space that some teachers need, and find in the anonymity of the Internet, rather than in their schools.

²Here I follow in Daniel Cho's (2005) footsteps, by dividing the positions toward sexuality in the classroom to separate groups, but I offer a different division.

³A list of novels and films that deal with sexual relations between teachers and students can be found in Keroes (1999). A list of romance novels on the subject can be found at http://www.maryse.net/books/book-recommendations/teacher-student-romance-books.html

⁴https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AgWH-H5kxI