Queering Sex Education: Rural Sex Educators’ Perceptions of Queer Issues

• In Event: (Re)producing and Dismantling Heteronormative Spaces in Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how rural sex educators create environments that are inclusive to queer students. The normative experiences of sex education in the United States guided this qualitative study that was informed by queer theory and ethnography. Examined within these normative experiences are the implications of policy and curricula, the impact this has on queer students, teacher responses to the injustice of normalizing practices, an analysis of rural queer students and teachers, and an evaluation of the silence of rural queerness. Challenging definitions, such as sex education, rural, and queer, - along with the tension of using the word queer in non-academic settings - are also addressed.

Author

• Jennifer M. deCoste, University of Wisconsin - Platteville