South African education and queer students

Under the South African constitution there are protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation nevertheless whilst South African legislation is praised for its progressive commitment to social justice and transformation, implementation is far from picturesque. Having been through the South African school system as a queer[1] white middle-class female. I have experienced a small portion of the impact of homophobia[2] and heteronormativity[3] in my own privileged schooling. I went to two schools both in the Eastern Cape of which the first was an all-girls primary school and the second was a co-ed “former model c” high school. Throughout primary to high school I experienced a deafening silence around the topic of queer sexualities from teachers and bullying, alienation from peers.

 I decided to study teaching after completing my BA degree in hopes that in the future I would be able to make a difference in the lives of students. It was during my teacher training in Grahamstown that I came across the reality that I had hoped would have changed since my own time in school. During a lesson of Natural Science’ reproduction that I was observing, the topic of homosexuality was brought up by one of the students. The teacher’s response was of discomfort, annoyance and dismissive that this topic was even brought up. She went on to draw upon her own personal belief system that homosexuality was a choice and against god. I was shocked that a teacher would say such things without thought of the effect it will have on queer students in her classroom and the general perception of queer people beyond the classroom. This whilst shocking and deplorable is not surprising given how homophobic and heteronormative schooling culture is in South Africa.

The current context of South African schools

School is important developmental time for students as many issues such as HIV, safe sex, pregnancy etc. are explored along with issues of sexuality. And yet there is little done on the behalf of schools and teachers to create or interact with some platform around queer topics. Teachers may ask why should queer issues be addressed as it only affects a minority of students, fails to understand that rigid gender roles and beliefs about masculinity and femininity affect all students regardless of sexual orientation. That violence and harm is enacted against those who are perceived as “other”. Where else should a child who is queer find information and support from? Family and home life can in some cases be more homophobic. Queer students may risk being disowned, evicted, physically and sexually harmed if they were to be reveal their queerness. Consequently, the only other space that queer students have access to is the school environment.

Any queer student that has been through the South African schooling system can probably give you a plethora of examples of how teachers and peers have contributed to an unhappy and unsafe learning environment. Several studies show that teachers rather than upholding commitment to equal rights, social justice and transformation outlined in the Department of Education 2001 “Manifesto on values, education and democracy” have been found to not only be complicit in but perpetuate homophobic and heteronormative school culture (Bhana, 2012, 2014; McLachlan, 2015). This takes place in the form of physical, emotional and psychological attacks from gay jokes, hate speech, neglecting to challenge bullying to violent attacks and “curative” rape. Queer students are excluded from the very fabric of school culture their identities remain hidden out of necessity for their safety, even as the response from the schooling is silence and bigotry (Richardson, 2006).

Queer students have no role models to speak to, no support from teachers, no intervention on peer homophobic bullying, sexual education and safe sex practices are heteronormative leaving no safe space for queer students to understand and explore their sexuality in a safe environment (Reygan, 2013). Instead students that are queer are often left confused and seek answers elsewhere which may lead to unsafe situations. Growing up I knew I was attracted to boys but was confused that I also liked girls, it was only really when I got out of school that I was made aware of the beautiful world of bisexuality. That discovery was whilst freeing, took me while to cast off some the shackles of some internalised homophobia.  Internalised homophobia is when queer people takes on society’s negative perceptions, intolerance and stigmas towards queer people, and as a result believe they are true. Had I felt safe and accepted enough during school I could have concluded that I was queer in a far healthier way.

The effect of unsafe school environments of queer students

When the heteronormative assumption that all students are straight prevails, and are treated as such the effects are clear. Studies have shown that the effects of homophobia and heteronormative school cultures impacts on queer students in several areas physical, academically and emotionally. Queer students are at greater risk for poor academic performance, drop out, suicide, substance abuse, risky sexual practices, isolation and margination as well as depression (Bellini, 2012; Francis & Msibi, 2011; Hong & Garbarino, 2012). The tendency to attribute negative outcomes for queer students solely on being queer neglects to consider the context and inequalities which creates these outcomes in the first place. All these consequences are the result of being in hostile learning environments where challenging of gender roles and heterosexuality are punished to maintain the heteronormative status quo. Within my own experience the word ‘lesbian’ was first introduced to me in primary school by my peers who used as a word to mean gross, abnormal or taboo. There were no teachers discouraging or correcting students, instead I grew up believing for a long time that lesbians were in fact those things. Another example in more recent times is the phrase “that is so gay” or simply “gaaaay” which was used in high school to denote something that lame, bad or uncool. Taking a sexual identity and using it as pejorative term to insult or make fun of people is dehumanising. Had the student said, “that’s so black” to make fun of someone we would immediately recognise that as racism. On a related side note there seems to be some sort of idea that social justice and transformation should focus only on racism and sexism that homophobia and heteronormativity are lessor problems that society should only try fix later. This argument ignores the fact that often racism, sexism and homophobia can be experienced by one individual, that identities intersect. It also ignores that heteronormativity is the foundation on which sexism is built. It also suggests that we can’t challenge multiple layers of oppression at once, that equally pursuing social justice for a number of issue detracts from those issues.

The obstacles in the way of South African teachers

Teachers are social agents which can be great allies for students in developing critical thinking and engaging with controversial but vital topics. Teachers need to be aware of the multiple intersecting layers of oppression and inequalities that affect the lives of students such as racism, sexism, effects of poverty, heterosexism etc. There are some beliefs held by teachers that sexuality education is a moral and values laden topic and that it does not belong in the classroom. Feelings of discomfort occur when teachers have to navigate their own beliefs and values whilst teaching about queer sexualities thus teachers may not ever bring up queer topics. Some teachers fear going against traditions held by the community and the reactions of parents and community members if they were to teach about queer topics. Often teachers are not trained sufficiently to handle these topics in a way that is conducive for all students. Furthermore, teachers lack the knowledge of queer sexualities and communities in addition may draw upon myths, biases and stereotypes when these topics come up (Reygan & Francis, 2015). For example, during my teacher training there was a lot of emphasis on multicultural education which in and of its itself is insufficient to assist queer students. There was a lack of training that challenged heteronormative teaching practices and beliefs that teachers may have that are detrimental to queer students which were some beliefs my fellow student teachers held.

The potential and failure of Life Orientation

Life Orientation (L.O) is a compulsory subject for grade 8 to matric which provides a very promising platform where students are taught the knowledge and life skills necessary to make healthy sexuality decisions for themselves and others. Some of the key objectives of this subject is to examine the power relations with regards to masculinity, femininity and gender. The main topics which are covered in this topic is violence, sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, STDs and HIV/AIDs. L.O is the main potential platform where queer sexualities can be addressed although there is no explicit mention in the L.O curriculum statement with regards to queer sexualities. It is nonetheless a topic that requires teacher attention. However often L.O is taught by teachers who are not trained to handle the topics in ways that are useful for students furthermore the subject is prone to adopting danger and disease discourse to scare students whilst neglecting a more wholesome approach which includes desire. This combined with the perception of students being innocent and not sexual beings makes it difficult for any real discussions about sexuality let alone queer sexuality.

One example from my own life is that after a grade 8 life orientation my white male gay friend seemed to assume that sex without a condom with guys would be safe as “it’s not like guys can get pregnant”. When you teach with the assumption that condoms are mostly for protecting against teenage pregnancy and that sex only happens between a boy and girl it follows that unsafe sexually practices will ensue. Because surprise, surprise not everyone is straight between 1.5 % to 10% of South African youth population identify as queer. Thus, it is not fallacious to say that at some point during the career of a teacher they would have queer students in their class.

Teaching for transformation and queer topics

Given how urgent it is that teachers become aware of the impact they have in the classroom and how the school environment contributes to the homophobia and heteronormativity. What can teachers do to help challenge this? Firstly, realise that personal belief systems impact on queer students and how students perceive the greater queer community. As a teacher, you are not neutral or apolitical, teaching in and of itself is a not a neutral act thus it is important that you realise what your own beliefs are and how they could impact on others. If you are teaching about sexuality you need to be comfortable not only with your own sexuality but with others as well. Secondly there are a multitude of great resources that abound on the internet from personal coming out stories to guides already made by teachers on teaching around queer sexualities. It’s important that you challenge your own views, if not to change them, then to be better informed and knowledgeable as to not reinforce harmful stereotypes, myths and biases. Thirdly teach and use the platforms such as L.O to discuss and challenge power relations around sexuality, gender, masculinity and femininity to show how these influences our perceptions of queer student and contribute to the oppression of some and how the system benefits others. However, it is important that teachers not only focus on homophobia as it removes agency of queer students positioning students as being unable to resist these contexts. Consequently, it is important to include discussion around sexuality that is not solely about danger and disease but also along the missing discourse of desire. Fourth, consider adopting a critical pedagogy and queer theory approach to help guide you teaching around these topics.