The “box”ing match: Narratives from queer adults growing up through the heterosexual matrix

ABSTRACT

Using queer theories of sexuality and gender, this study centers on “coming out” stories of ten queer adults. Engaging Butler's heterosexual matrix (1990) as an analytic tool, stories are analyzed with respect to agency and positioning. Findings suggest that participants' positioning and agency were largely affected by gender identity and expression (i.e., inside or beyond the gender binary). Findings further suggest that the heterosexual matrix was a primary and troublesome framework for all participants as they navigated the complex process of becoming. This article argues that teachers must be supported to offer queer frameworks to create safe and affirming schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Heterosexual matrix; heteronormativity; gender binary; sexuality; narrative; education; safety

Notes

1. In this study, I engaged participants in self-reflections about their experiences “coming out.” While I use the expression “coming out,” I acknowledge the complicated, messy, nonlinear process therein and that it is ongoing and iterative; my intention is not to reify a binary of being “out” or being “closeted” (Sedgwick, 1993). Instead, I aim to call attention to how participants began to understand themselves, and in particular, how they understood who they were becoming with respect to their sexual identities; references to “identity development” should be considered queerly.

2. I use queer and LGBTQ interchangeably in an attempt to signify the existence of these categories, as well as the need to disrupt them, as they do not do justice to gender and sexual diversity more broadly.

3. I use the pronoun “their” as a gender-neutral singular pronoun here to disrupt discursive reproduction of binary sex categories.

4. Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina continue to have laws that ban educators from including LGBTQ people and/ or history or that allow them to talk about queer identities in a positive light. Seems there may be some rethinking to do, given the fact that marriage equality now exists in the United States (i.e., How do “No Promo Homo” policies square with marriage equality?)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bethy Leonardi

Bethy Leonardi is a post-doctoral research associate in the University of Colorado Boulder's School of Education. She is co-founder and co-director of A Queer Endeavor, an initiative aiming to support educational communities to affirm gender and sexual diversity. Her research explores queer issues in educational foundations, policy, and practice