Conforming and Contesting with (a) Difference: how lesbian students and teachers manage their identities

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the multiplicity of ways in which lesbian physical education students and teachers construct and manage their respective identities within higher education and the schooling system in England. Attention is directed towards the politics of New Right discourses on sexuality and in particular to the prohibition of homosexuality and the passing of Section 28 of the Local Government Act in England and Wales in 1988 which created a climate of fear of loss of employment for many lesbian and gay teachers. Through the analysis of in‐depth interviews and questionnaires the lives of white, able‐bodied lesbian physical education students and teachers are explored. Narratives are utilised to illustrate how many are forced to comply with dominant discourses of hegemonic heterosexuality in order to ‘safely’ negotiate what for them is often an intolerant and hostile world. In concluding it is argued that sexual boundaries are fluid and that we need to construct a counter discourse to examine and challenge the privileging of heterosexuality.