Girls’ sexual subjectivity in a secondary language classroom
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.31614Keywords:
sexuality, language education, heteronormativity, subjectivity, genderAbstract
This study concerns questions about sexuality in school, and especially girls' sexuality as acted out and spoken of in ordinary everyday practice. School and teaching practices are often understood as sexually 'neutral' and language teaching often emphasises linguistic proficiency over meaning making processes, overlooking the discursive aspects of language practices. The aim is to study girls' sexuality in a secondary language classroom in terms of the performative processes that bring about their subjectivity in relation to intimacy and body. This is studied in relation to what is being remarked upon and what seemingly goes unnoticed. Our results show that contingent female (homo)sexual subjectivity is covered by normative straight female homosociality through the absence of sexuality produced by homosocial presence. We also show that a lesbian subject position is created to fulfil a male straight sex fantasy rather than as a representation of lesbian liveable lives.
References
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Butler, J. (1997) Excitable Speech. A Politics of the Performative. New York: Routledge.
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Coates, J. (2013) The discursive production of everyday heterosexualities. Discourse and Society 24(5): 536–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926513486070
Copland, F. and Creese, A. (2015) Linguistic Ethnography: Collecting, Analysing and Presenting Data. London: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473910607
DeWalt, K. M. and DeWalt, B. R. (2011) Participant Observations: A Guide for Fieldworkers. Plymouth: AltaMira Press.
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Florio-Ruane, S. and Morrell, E. (2012) Discourse analysis: conversation. In M. H. Mallette and N. K. Duke (eds) Literacy Research Methodologies 46–61. London: Guilford Press.
Gee, J. P. (2008) Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. New York: Routledge.
Godley, A. (2006) Gendered borderwork in a high school English class. English Teaching: Practice and Critique 5(3): 4–29.
Griffin, C. (2000) Absences that matter: constructions of sexuality in studies of young women’s friendships. Feminism and Psychology 10(2): 227–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353500010002003
Hammarén, N. (2008) Förorten i huvudet. Unga män om kön och sexualitet i det nya Sverige. [The Suburb in the Head. Young Men’s Thoughts on Gender and Sexuality in the New Sweden]. Stockholm: Atlas.
Hammarén, N. and Johansson, T. (2014) Homosociality: in between power and intimacy. Sage Open (January–March 2014): 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244013518057
Janks, H. (2010) Literacy and Power. New York: Routledge.
Kosofsky Sedgwick, E. (1985) Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kulick, D. (2006) No. In D. Cameron and D. Kulick (eds) The Language and Sexuality Reader 285–98. New York: Routledge.
Langa, H. (2010) Seeing queerly: looking for lesbian presence and absence in United States visual art, 1890 to 1950. Journal of Lesbian Studies 14(2–3): 124–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160903196509
Lee Rosiek, J. and Heffernan, J. (2014) Can’t code what the community can’t see: a case of the erasure of heteronormative harassment. Qualitative Inquiry 20(6): 726–33.
Levon, E. and Mendes, R. B. (2016) (eds) Language, Sexuality, and Power: Studies in Intersectional Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Liddicoat, A. J. (2009) Sexual identity as linguistic failure: trajectories of interaction in the heteronormative language classroom. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 8(2–3): 191–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348450902848825
Lindgren, E. and Enever, J. (2015) Developing an understanding of språkdidaktik in Sweden today. In E. Lindgren and J. Enever (eds) Språkdidaktik: Researching Language Teaching and Learning 11–20. Umeå Studies in Language and Literature 26. Umeå: Umeå Universitet.
Martinsson, L. and Reimers, E. (eds) (2008) Skola i Normer. Malmö: Gleerups.
Milani, T. M. (ed) (2015a) Language and Masculinities: Performances, Intersections, Dislocations. New York: Routledge.
Milani, T. M. (2015b) Theorizing language and masculinities. In T. M. Milani (ed.) Language and Masculinities: Performances, Intersections, Dislocations 8–33. New York: Routledge.
Milani, T. M. and Jonsson, R. (2011) Incomprehensible language? Language, ethnicity and heterosexual masculinity in a Swedish school. Gender and Language 5(2): 241–69. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v5i2.241
Moje, E. B. and MuQaribu, M. (2003) Literacy and sexual identity. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 47(3): 204–8.
Nelson, C. D. (2006) Queer inquiry in language education. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 5(1): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327701jlie0501_1
Nelson, C. D. (2010) A gay immigrant student’s perspective: unspeakable acts in the language class. TESOL Quarterly 44(3): 441–64. https://doi.org/10.5054/tq.2010.226853
Ramanathan, V. (2013) Language policies and (dis)citizenship: Who belongs? Who is a guest? Who is deported? Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 12(3): 162–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2013.797250
Rich, A. (1980) Compulsory hetrosexuality and lesbian existence. Signs 5(4): 631–60. https://doi.org/10.1086/493756
Ringrose, J. and Renold, E. (2012) Slut-shaming, girl power and ‘sexualisation’: thinking through the politics of the international slut walks with teen girls. Gender and Education 24(3): 333–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2011.645023
Ripley, M., Anderson, E., McCormack, M., and Rockett, B. (2012) Heteronormativity in the university classroom: novelty attachment and content substitution among gay-friendly students. Sociology of Education 85(2): 121–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040711427315
Sanders, K. (2015) Mean girls, homosociality and football: an education on social and power Dynamics between Girls and Women. Gender and Education 27(7): 887–908. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2015.1096921
Sikes, P. (2010) Teacher-student sexual relations: key risks and ethical Issues. Ethnography and Education 5(2): 143–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2010.493398
Taliaferro-Baszile, D. (2010) In Ellisonian eyes, what is curriculum theory? In E. Malewski (ed.) Curriculum Studies Handbook: The Next Moment 483–95. New York: Routledge.
Youdell, D. (2006) Impossible Bodies, Impossible Selves: Exclusions and Student Subjectivities. Dordrecht: Springer.
Azimova, N. and Johnston, B. (2012) Invisibility and ownership of language: problems of representation in Russian language textbook. The Modern Language Journal 96(3): 337–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2012.01356.x
Berggren, K. (2012) No homo: straight inoculations and the queering of masculinity in Swedish hip hop. Norma: Nordic Journal for Masculinity Studies 7(1): 50–66.
Blackburn, M. V. (2002) Disrupting the (hetero)normative: exploring literacy performances and identity work with queer youth. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 46(4): 312–24.
Brekhus, W. (1998). A sociology of the unmarked: redirecting our focus. Sociological Theory 16(1): 34–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00041
Brown, J. R. (2011) No homo. Journal of Homosexuality 58(3): 299–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2011.546721
Butler, J. ([1990]1999) Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. ([1993]2011) Bodies that Matter. On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1997) Excitable Speech. A Politics of the Performative. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (2004) Undoing Gender. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J. (2009) Performativity, precarity and sexual politics. AIBR: Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana 4(3): i–xiii. https://doi.org/10.11156/aibr.040303e
Cameron, D. and Kulick, D. (2003) Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791178
Cameron, D. and Kulick, D. (eds) (2006) The Language and Sexuality Reader. New York: Routledge.
Coates, J. (2013) The discursive production of everyday heterosexualities. Discourse and Society 24(5): 536–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926513486070
Copland, F. and Creese, A. (2015) Linguistic Ethnography: Collecting, Analysing and Presenting Data. London: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473910607
DeWalt, K. M. and DeWalt, B. R. (2011) Participant Observations: A Guide for Fieldworkers. Plymouth: AltaMira Press.
Ericsson, S. (2015) Mina heterosexuella skolår: normkritik och skrivande i skolan. In M. Lindgren and G. Svensson (eds) Skrivande i skolan. Malmö: Gleerups
Florio-Ruane, S. and Morrell, E. (2012) Discourse analysis: conversation. In M. H. Mallette and N. K. Duke (eds) Literacy Research Methodologies 46–61. London: Guilford Press.
Gee, J. P. (2008) Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. New York: Routledge.
Godley, A. (2006) Gendered borderwork in a high school English class. English Teaching: Practice and Critique 5(3): 4–29.
Griffin, C. (2000) Absences that matter: constructions of sexuality in studies of young women’s friendships. Feminism and Psychology 10(2): 227–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353500010002003
Hammarén, N. (2008) Förorten i huvudet. Unga män om kön och sexualitet i det nya Sverige. [The Suburb in the Head. Young Men’s Thoughts on Gender and Sexuality in the New Sweden]. Stockholm: Atlas.
Hammarén, N. and Johansson, T. (2014) Homosociality: in between power and intimacy. Sage Open (January–March 2014): 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244013518057
Janks, H. (2010) Literacy and Power. New York: Routledge.
Kosofsky Sedgwick, E. (1985) Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. New York: Columbia University Press.
Kulick, D. (2006) No. In D. Cameron and D. Kulick (eds) The Language and Sexuality Reader 285–98. New York: Routledge.
Langa, H. (2010) Seeing queerly: looking for lesbian presence and absence in United States visual art, 1890 to 1950. Journal of Lesbian Studies 14(2–3): 124–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160903196509
Lee Rosiek, J. and Heffernan, J. (2014) Can’t code what the community can’t see: a case of the erasure of heteronormative harassment. Qualitative Inquiry 20(6): 726–33.
Levon, E. and Mendes, R. B. (2016) (eds) Language, Sexuality, and Power: Studies in Intersectional Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Liddicoat, A. J. (2009) Sexual identity as linguistic failure: trajectories of interaction in the heteronormative language classroom. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 8(2–3): 191–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348450902848825
Lindgren, E. and Enever, J. (2015) Developing an understanding of språkdidaktik in Sweden today. In E. Lindgren and J. Enever (eds) Språkdidaktik: Researching Language Teaching and Learning 11–20. Umeå Studies in Language and Literature 26. Umeå: Umeå Universitet.
Martinsson, L. and Reimers, E. (eds) (2008) Skola i Normer. Malmö: Gleerups.
Milani, T. M. (ed) (2015a) Language and Masculinities: Performances, Intersections, Dislocations. New York: Routledge.
Milani, T. M. (2015b) Theorizing language and masculinities. In T. M. Milani (ed.) Language and Masculinities: Performances, Intersections, Dislocations 8–33. New York: Routledge.
Milani, T. M. and Jonsson, R. (2011) Incomprehensible language? Language, ethnicity and heterosexual masculinity in a Swedish school. Gender and Language 5(2): 241–69. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v5i2.241
Moje, E. B. and MuQaribu, M. (2003) Literacy and sexual identity. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 47(3): 204–8.
Nelson, C. D. (2006) Queer inquiry in language education. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 5(1): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327701jlie0501_1
Nelson, C. D. (2010) A gay immigrant student’s perspective: unspeakable acts in the language class. TESOL Quarterly 44(3): 441–64. https://doi.org/10.5054/tq.2010.226853
Ramanathan, V. (2013) Language policies and (dis)citizenship: Who belongs? Who is a guest? Who is deported? Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 12(3): 162–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2013.797250
Rich, A. (1980) Compulsory hetrosexuality and lesbian existence. Signs 5(4): 631–60. https://doi.org/10.1086/493756
Ringrose, J. and Renold, E. (2012) Slut-shaming, girl power and ‘sexualisation’: thinking through the politics of the international slut walks with teen girls. Gender and Education 24(3): 333–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2011.645023
Ripley, M., Anderson, E., McCormack, M., and Rockett, B. (2012) Heteronormativity in the university classroom: novelty attachment and content substitution among gay-friendly students. Sociology of Education 85(2): 121–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040711427315
Sanders, K. (2015) Mean girls, homosociality and football: an education on social and power Dynamics between Girls and Women. Gender and Education 27(7): 887–908. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2015.1096921
Sikes, P. (2010) Teacher-student sexual relations: key risks and ethical Issues. Ethnography and Education 5(2): 143–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2010.493398
Taliaferro-Baszile, D. (2010) In Ellisonian eyes, what is curriculum theory? In E. Malewski (ed.) Curriculum Studies Handbook: The Next Moment 483–95. New York: Routledge.
Youdell, D. (2006) Impossible Bodies, Impossible Selves: Exclusions and Student Subjectivities. Dordrecht: Springer.
Published
2018-07-05
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Simonsson, A., & Angervall, P. (2018). Girls’ sexual subjectivity in a secondary language classroom. Gender and Language, 12(2), 218-241. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.31614
