Abstract
Instructors often wish to address gender and sexuality in a wide variety of courses. Yet concerns regarding how to productively intertwine these topics with other class material while remaining attentive to feminist and queer concerns may lead to hesitation. We discuss two of the most frequent challenges that arise when discussing gender and sexuality in courses primarily focused on other topics. These challenges are related to (1) class materials that reinforce a gender binary and (2) students’ denial of gender and sexual privilege. We then demonstrate how highlighting exceptions to predominant social patterns and incorporating intersectionality in class readings and discussions can address these stumbling blocks. We conclude with a discussion of the proposed solutions help instructors present gender and sexual disparities in a critical and complex manner without being defeatist.
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Notes
- 1.
Sexual orientation refers to sexual and romantic attraction. Gender identity is one’s sense of self as a woman, man, a person with a range of masculine and feminine characteristics that may shift over time, or someone without a specific gender identity. Gender expression refers to the masculine, feminine, in between, or other ways people dress and carry themselves (Teich 2012).
- 2.
Transgender or trans* can be used to describe gender variant people who do not fall into “normative” conceptions of masculinity and femininity, including transsexuals, genderqueers, drag queens and kings, and crossdressers. The term transsexual typically applies specifically to people who feel conflict between their ascribed gender and gender identity. Transsexuals may have surgery and/or take hormones as a result of this conflict (Wentling et al. 2008).
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Burke, K., Trumpy, A. (2016). Making the Invisible Visible: Shining a Light on Gender and Sexuality in Courses Primarily Focused on Other Topics. In: Haltinner, K., Pilgeram, R. (eds) Teaching Gender and Sex in Contemporary America. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30364-2_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30364-2_27
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