Sexualities in Education

Erica R. Meiners is a Professor of Education and Women’s Studies at Northeastern Illinois University.Therese Quinn is Associate Professor and Chair of Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

«This book will queer your mind as it increasingly unveils both persistent and situated ways that sexualities matter in education, and demands that we question, act, change. Linking field-defining classics with new voices on norm-criticality, feminisms, and intersectionality, Meiners and Quinn have assembled a stunning collection of scholarship and art that reframes not merely the field of sexualities and education but education itself. Read this today.» (Kevin Kumashiro, author of ‘Troubling Education: Queer Activism and Antioppressive Pedagogy’)«This reader is a must-have for anyone interested in sexuality, education, and social justice. Therese Quinn and Erica Meiners have made a unique cross-genred collection of academic as well as political, literary texts and art, highlighting both contemporary and historical perspectives. At its heart is a sharp analysis of the neo-liberal framing of education and the self, informed by an intersectional and queer-feminist approach to the meanings of gender, sexuality, and strategies of change. It brings us closer to understanding the depth of what is at stake, and yet inspiration and hopes for change, reminding us of our predecessor’s impossible missions and activists today continuing them.» (Janne Bromseth, Stockholm University)«This is a brave, inspiring and one-of-a-kind volume that brings fresh voices and modes of expression into contemporary debates on the politics and pedagogy of gender and sexuality. Its treasure trove of works by artists, academics, activists, educators, parents, and youth breathe new life into the claim that ‘society can only be as free and open as its schools.’ This ‘queer-centric’ and feminist collection of theoretical, historical, practical, and personal wisdom, and its dedication to the spirit of Ella Flagg Young, an acclaimed progressive educator and curricular innovator who initiated the first sex education program in the United States at the turn of the century, fills an immense void in teacher education literature and school reform efforts.» (Wendy Luttrell, Graduate Center of The City University of New York, CUNY)«Finally, a sex ed teaching primer for the ‘rest of us.’ This book takes a realistic and appreciative stock of the diversity of North American families, sexualities and culture but doesn’t stop there. Through poetry, visual art, and essays and contributors from the United States and Canada to Finland, Cambodia, and beyond, ‘Sexualities in Education: A Reader’ reminds us to push past the usual borders and limits: our lives are various and so should be the forms we use. Best of all, the book is grounded in pro-feminist, pro-pleasure, and pro-justice perspectives. Pick it up for inspiration; share it with the hope that we can change our world.» (Susie Bright)

• Contents: Therese Quinn/Erica R. Meiners: Introduction: Love, Labor, and Learning: Yours in the Struggle – Connie E. North: Introduction: Bending the Terrain: Queer and Justice Issues Infiltrate the Education Map – Elizabeth J. Meyer: From Here to Queer: Mapping Sexualities in Education – Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore: Sweatshop-Produced Rainbow Flags and Participatory Patriarchy: Why the Gay Rights Movement Is a Sham – Jessica Fields: Differences and Divisions: Social Inequality in Sex Education Debates and Policies – Mel Michelle Lewis: Pedagogy and the Sista’ Professor: Teaching Black Queer Feminist Studies through the Self – Lucy Bailey/Karen Graves: Introduction: Society Can Only Be as Free and Open as Its Schools – Jackie M. Blount: How Sweet It Is! – Catherine A. Lugg: The Religious Right and Public Education: The Paranoid Politics of Homophobia – Warren J. Blumenfeld: «We’re Here and We’re Fabulous»: Contemporary U.S.-American LGBT Youth Activism – Isabel Nuñez: Introduction: Teaching as Whole Self – Carolyn Pajor Ford: White Trash: Manifesting the Bisexual – Becky Atkinson: Apple Jumper, Teacher Babe, and Bland Uniformer Teachers: Fashioning Feminine Teacher Bodies – Eric Rofes: Bound and Gagged: Sexual Silences, Gender Conformity, and the Gay Male Teacher – Jane Gallop: Knot a Love Story – Coya Paz Brownrigg: Paper Machete – Darla Linville: Introduction: Schooling Students in Gender and Sexuality Expectations – Erica M. Boas: Walking the Line: Teaching, Being, and Thinking Sexuality in Elementary School – C.J. Pascoe: Becoming Mr. Cougar: Institutionalizing Heterosexuality and Homophobia at River High – Kathleen O. Elliott: The Right Way to Be Gay: How School Structures Sexual Inequality – Darla Linville: Virtual, Welcoming, Queer, School Community: An Interview with Dave Glick – Jillian Ford: Introduction: Realidadesrealities, Palabraswords, yand Estudiosstudies: LGBTQIQ Youth in Schools – Anneliese A. Singh/Ken Jackson: Queer and Transgender Youth: Education and Liberation in Our Schools – Jane Bryan Meek: «Being Queer Is the Luckiest Thing»: Investigating a New Generation’s Use of Queer within Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Student Groups – Sandra J. Schmidt: Let Me in! The Impact of the Discourse of Impossibility on Research and Curricular (Re)formation – Jukka Lehtonen: Introduction: Crossing Borders – Diane Richardson: Citizenship and Sexuality: What Do We Mean by «Citizenship»? – Roland Sintos Coloma: What’s Queer Got to Do with It? Interrogating Nationalism and Imperialism – Jay Poole/C.P. Gause: Under Construction: Sexualities in Rural Spaces – Peter Dankmeijer: LGBT, to Be or Not to Be? Education about Sexual Preferences and Gender Identities Worldwide – Irina Schmitt: Sexuality, Secularism, and the Nation - Reading Swedish School Policies – Silja Rajander/Phal Sophat: Drama Performances Address Stigma, Discrimination of MSM and HIV/AIDS Prevention – Jukka Lehtonen: Yogyakarta Principles - For the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People – Karyn Sandlos: Introduction: Another Telling Representational Effect – Deborah P. Britzman: Queer Pedagogy and Its Strange Techniques – Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco: Making the AIDS Ghostwriters Visible – Brian Casemore: «A Different Idea» in the Sex Education Curriculum: Thinking Through the Emotional Experience of Sexuality – Eve Sedgwick: Christmas Effects – Lauren Berlant: Feel Tank – Angel Rubiel Gonzalez: Introduction: Educating to Affirm Life: Sexuality, Politics, and Education – Sam Finkelstein/Lucky Mosqueda/Adrian