‘Keeping it straight’ what do South African queer youth say they need from sexuality education?

ABSTRACT

Drawing on Rich’s [Rich, A. 2004. “Reflections on ‘Compulsory Heterosexuality.’.” Journal of Women's History 16: 9–11; Rich, A. 1980. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 5: 631–660] conceptualization of heterosexuality as an institutionalized and compulsory system that supports gender and sexuality inequality, this paper answers the following questions – how do queer youth take up, question and say what they need from sexuality education. The study is based on in-depth interviews with 19 queer learners, aged between 16 and 19 years and living and schooling in the Free State Province, South Africa. This paper contends that what queer youth say need from sexuality education is a curriculum that – recognizes sexuality diversity; is without assumptions about their sexual experience or lack of it and does not focus solely on associating non-normative sexualities with issues of disease, deviance and danger. The findings highlight the inescapable power of compulsory heterosexuality and its perilousness and argue for a more defined and inclusive sexuality education curricula framework.

KEYWORDS:

• Queer youth
• compulsory heterosexuality
• sexuality education
• South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Dennis Francis http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6353-4120

Notes

1 Sexuality education does not exist as a separate subject but forms part of the learning area Life Orientation. Life Orientation (LO) was introduced as a learning area in South African schools in the late 1990s. It also compromises a diverse number of components: guidance, life skills education, health promotion, physical development and movement and environmental education (Department of Education 2011, 2002).

2 I make reference to racial categories, established under the apartheid regime because it continues to be socially relevant and does reflect economic and cultural differences.

3 Literal translation –cook sister. A Syrupy plaited deep-fried dough. Afrikaans derogatory word to refer to a lesbian.

4 Afrikaans translation of lesbian

5 Triangle Project, a Cape Town based organization offers a range of services to the LGBTI community. These include a variety of health services, such as sexual health clinics, counseling, support groups, a helpline, public education and training services, community outreach and a library (https://triangle.org.za/about/).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Foundation: [Grant Number CPRR13082330440]; South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement: [Grant Number Education Research in South Africa ERGR 90366].