I use this slide show in my education courses to discuss queer pedagogy.

1. Queer Pedagogy
Kurt Love, Ph.D.
Central Connecticut State University

2. What is Queer?
• The word “queer” connotes:
• Different
• Unacceptable
• Un-normed

3. Queer Theory
• Started with looking at un-normed
sexualities with relationships to sex and
gender
• Looked at what else is “queered” or un-
normed

4. Sex
• Sex is oftentimes emphasizing biological characteristics or
phenotype based on genatalia
• Genotypic Spectrum
• “Super Male” = xyy chromosomes
• Male = xy chromosomes
• “Hermaphodite” = xxy chromosomes (Klinefelter’s Syndrome)
• Female = xo chromosomes (Turner’s Syndrome)
• Female = xx chromosomes
• Female = xxx chromosomes (tend towards more “masculine
bodies)

5. Gender
• Gender is a social construction (i.e. how a
society thinks men and women should act)
• Gender Spectrum (not a binary)
• Men
• Transgender
• Transsexual
• Women

6. Sex & Gender
• Is someone who is biologically a male
automatically going to be a “man?”
• Is someone who is biologically a female
automatically going to be a “woman?”
• Transgender
• Transsexual

7. Sex & Gender
• The “partnering” of sex with gender does
not work in strict patterns
• Sex and gender are both along spectra
• A person could have an xy chromosome
(male - biological construction) but feel
more comfortable as a woman (gender
construction)

8. Sexualities
• Heterosexual or “Straight”
• Homosexual or “Gay,” “Lesbian”
• Bisexual
• Asexual
• Polyamorous

9. Sex, Gender & Sexuality
• A male identifying as a woman who
partners with a male also identifies as being
straight
• A female identifying as a man who partners
with a man also identifies as being gay

10. Born Gay?
• Arguments of sexuality being a choice or
being “genetic”
• People know by no later than 4th grade
• Born gay = Disease to be treated

11. Norming Sexuality &
Gender
• Gender Norm = Hegemonically fitting
everyone’s gender into the binary of male/
female
• Sexuality Norm = Hegemonically making
everyone as heterosexuals
• Homophobia used as a tool to hegemonically
reinforce the norms of sexuality

12. Sites of Hegemony
• Religions
• Public Spaces
• Family
• Schools
• Media
• Laws

13. Gay-Straight Alliance
(GSA)
• Extracurricular clubs where students meet
to be active in supporting peoples of all
sexualities and genders
• New Britain High School has the largest
GSA of any high school in the United
States.

14. Student Efforts
• Forum Theatre in St. Paul, MN
• 8th Grade Student Promotion at Kinsella
School in Hartford, CT

15. Straight Teacher?
• Why should a straight teacher care about
issues of sexuality?
• It’s like asking, “Why should a white teacher
care about racial issues?”

16. Supporting Students
• Should a teacher who feels that Black students
are genetically intellectually inferior work with
Black students?
• Any students?
• Should a teacher who feels that any sexuality
except for heterosexuality is morally wrong work
with students of diverse sexualities?
• Any students?

17. Supporting Students
• Being present for the student
• Not claiming to know any answers
• What does the student need from you?
• Working with counselors and school
psychologist to ensure that student is
supported

18. What Else is Queered?
• Queering groups of people
• Queering knowledge
• Queering practices

19. Being Queered
• Being queered means that the person/
group, knowledge, or practice is not only
un-normed, but it is also
unacceptable and subordinated.
• Uncomfortable
• “Weird”

20. What/Who Else is Queered?
• Homeless people • Feminists
• Wiccans • Intuition
• Pagans • Barbara McClintock
• Indigenous Ecological
Knowledge
• Voodoo

21. What/Who Else is Queered?
• Boo Radley in To Kill a • Politicians who do not
Mockingbird follow the narrow
discursive norms of their
• A person speaking Arabic party (i.e. Dennis Kucinich,
Ron Paul)
in the U.S.
• A person speaking Ebonics
• A Black woman in a suit
with braids
• Conscientious objectors

22. What/Who Does the
Queering?
• People in the dominating roles (i.e. those
who adhere to and profit from the norms)
• Contexts

23. In a Lesson
• As with any transformative pedagogy, it’s
not about having the “right” method...
• It’s about developing the “right” question.
• Meaningful, thought-provoking, connected
to real world issues