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Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Teens Eduenting and Confronting Homophobia: Space, Anti-Opprrssion Education and Identity Ian Rutherford A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts Department of Cumcnlum, Teaching and Learning Ontario InstitPte for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto 0 Copyright by Irto Rutherford 199% National Library Bibliothbque nationale I*m of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington OttawaON K1AON4 OttawaON K1AOM Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde me licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prster, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la fonne de microfiche/fih, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la these ni des exb-aits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent &re imprim& reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. auto~isation. Teens Educating and Codkonting Homophobia: Space, Anti-Oppression Education and Identity Master of Arts, 1998 Ian George Rutherford Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the Universiw of Toronto Abstract The thesis is a study of the Toronto-based Teens Educating Against and Confronting Homophobia (TEACH), a peer-based youth program focused on addressing issues of homophobia. The study examines the ways in which participation in TEACH pennits youth to actively challenge homophobia, and how the space of the project nurtures a critical analysis of the construction of identity. The study demonstrates some of the ways in which a peer-based model generates personal narratives and challenges diverse discourses within an anti-oppression framework. It shows how youth have taken up their identities as gay, lesbian or bisexual youth in spaces of the school, the mainstream gay, lesbian and bisexual community, and TEACH itself. The research suggeas the need for a combination of trust and reliability, supportive adult facilitation, and reliable structures that support youth in exploring complex issues. It also suggests a possible connection between adolescent development and the acquisition and use of varying theoretical constructs. Dedicated to the youth at TEACH Contents Introduction: "Straight" into Invisibility 6 The Research Question 8 Practical Implications for the Field of Education 1 0 Critical Ethnography in Anti-Homophobic Spaces 1 0 Legitimizing Youth Discourses I I Methodological Process 13 How Do I Write Thee?: (Re)presenting Voice 15 Self-Reflexivity: Locating Myself in This Critical Ethnographic Project 1 6 No Closet Big Enough to Hold the Terrain of My Life &'Whois it that can tell me who I am?" Creating Space Mapping Space "One does not see those who are in the dark" A Review of the Literature Hostile Spaces: cLNormalcy"and Youth Development Heterosexuality: In Search of a ''Coherent Social Category" Spaces for Resistance Spaces of Inclusion: Communities of Difference Project 10: Working for Safety TEACH: A Political History of Underfunded Space The TEACH Constituency The TEACH Workshop The Current Group Prioritizing Spaces School Spaces Pedagogues, Queers and Peers: The Centrality of Peers in Identity Development Church and Wellesley: Queer Public Spaces and the Shaping of Identities i v 7.1 Lesbian Gay Bisexual Youth of Toronto: Queer Support in the Village 7 1 7.2 All the Way Down There For a Coffee: Negotiating Identity and (Heterosexual) Friends 73 7.3 Widening the Territory: Seeking Wider Possibilities of Being 7 4 7.4 Integration and Affirmation: Commonalities and Belonging 76 7.5 Stifling L4Supportive"Environments: Identity and Fixed Categories 79 7.6 Circling Back: Fluid Identity and Use@) of History 8 t - 8.0 TEACH: Taking on the Challenge 84 8.1 Support and Visibility in the Coming Out Process 85 8.2 Acknowledging and Invoking Difference 88 9.0 Finding and Identifying Discourse 89 9.1 Discordant Spaces 90 9.2 Things (Un)attended 9 0 9.3 Common Ground?: The Unsettling Tensions Within Group Discourses 9 2 9.4 Balancing Support and Bottom Lines in the Process of Change 09 9.5 Theoretical Positions and Identity Development I {I I 9.6 Ricardo's Cups of Tea: A Discourse on Sameness I 0-4 9.7 Inhabiting Ambiguous Spaces: A Post-modern Discourse on Identity 1 06 10.0 Inclusive Education and the Freeing of Sex I I0 Appendix A Appendix B Bibliography 6 1.0 Introduction: UStrPightn into Invisibility Youth who are gay, or lesbian, or bisexual, are most likely to conceal their orientation. Intolerant and often hostile responses to homosexuality and bisexuality do not encourage disclosure and, subsequently, many youth conceal their identity through intricate strategies so they can pass as "straight7'. At the expense of enjoying balanced, self-accepting lives secrecy affords a safe haven (Crribe and Harbeck, 1992, 1 1). Yet at the same time that invisibility protects youth from being hurt, it simultaneously hurts them by preventing their being seen: CLDeathby visibility, death by invisibility - the catch-22 of our tribe" (OaConnor, 1995, 14). Isolation does little to remove the process of stigmatization or the effect this stigmatism has upon the personal and social development of homosexual and bisexual adolescents. Studies (see Fie et al, 1997; Herdt and Boxer, 1993; and Uriie and Harbeck 1992) show that although official school policies espouse equality they are not, in reality, implemented. Consequently, even though youth often report positive feelings about school, these settings typically do not offer guidance and the youth undergo pressure to conform and to individually negotiate their participation in an environment that negates their sexual identities. The space of education, where the nurturing and development of healthy, critically-minded people takes place, is typically a circle that does not curve around gay, lesbian or bisexual youth. Herdt and Boxer (1993, 223) found that two-thirds of the youth in the United States felt they had to hide their sexual orientation partially or totally in school, and that less than a quarter of the group felt that there was no one from whom they had to hide &om being gay or lesbian. A predominant concern about revealing themselves centred more around their peers than it did teachers most likely because of a need to belong and be atFrmed in their age group. Elaborate concealment strategies become a means for handling sexual feelings and identities in school environments that reflect the homophobia of the wider society. Interestingly, even in communities 7 where structures have been put into place to encourage positive gay and lesbian expression, youth still report that the assumption of heterosexuality predominates and that this assumption is most - often put upon them. Campey et a1 (1994, 97), summarize it this way: "Perhaps, more than any other system of oppression, homophobia, heterosexism, and sexism work together to reinforce each other. AU these systems have expectations of how "real" womedgirls and "real" madboys should feel and behave. AU have serious consequences for those who step outside of their prescribed gender roies". For these reasons they advocate that educators focusing on gender equity draw the links between sexism, heterosexism, and homophobia, and that those engaged in anti-oppression work include gay and lesbian issues. Yet the limitation of anti-oppression work, or of any work by people working with and alongside marginalized constituencies, is its lack of eequency in the formal education system. Gains made by activists in the Toronto Board of Education (Campey, 1994), for example, are fragile and precariously sit in the balance as the amalgamation of school boards brings fears of a less progressive body of trustees into the wider conservative arena of the current provincial Progressive Consewative government with its commitment to neo-conservative restructuring under the New Right language of 'Family7, 'Tradition' and 'Religion'. Any work done to address homophobia and to provide a venue for gay, lesbian and bisexual students to pursue and explore their sexual orientation are Limited. Where affective disclosure and analytical tiameworks are nurtured in an ongoing supportive environment, however, the chances that gay, lesbian and bisexual will develop in positive ways should increase.