“I’m Used to It Now”: Experiences of Homophobia Among Queer Youth in South African Township Schools

• In Event: Sexuality, Society, and Pedagogy: Teaching About Sexual Diversity in the South African Context

Abstract

Townships in South Africa still largely remain poor and black, with violent masculinities regulating sexuality (Selikow, Zulu, and Cedra 2002). These are learners whom Morrell (2002) characterises as living ‘at a knife’s edge’ due to the violence perpetrated around and against them. This paper uses queer life narratives in highlighting the experiences of queer learners in these contexts. This approach centres on the idea of ‘resist-stancing’ (Grace and Benson 2000, 89) to illuminate the lives of queer individuals as actors in their social space and challenges the powerless and helpless discourse often constructed of queer people.
The findings reported in this paper come from the analysis of an interventionist project geared towards the improvement of queer learners’ experiences in schools. Participants, seven males and seven females, attended five four-hour workshops that focused on issues of sexuality, sexual identification, gender and power, and were also trained on visual methodologies. Eight were learners, four were university students and two were teachers. They self- identified using a wide range of sexualities: 4 gay males, five lesbians, two questioning males, one ‘straight’ identifying male, and two straight identifying females. All were Black and taught, had learned or are currently learning in township schools around the Durban area of South Africa.
As with other studies across the globe, language was found to be one of the key ways in which discrimination against queer learners is perpetrated and maintained. Violence ranging from shouting to physical harm was reported mainly by boys, while rape was used as a way to detract learners from claiming a lesbian identity. Participants also commented on the tension that exists between homosexuality and religion and/or culture, a recurring issue arising in research on homosexuality in South Africa (Butler and Astbury 2005).
Given these difficulties, one would expect passive, powerless learners with no hope, yet they noted that the friends they had and the great support from some teachers were enough for them to survive. While it is true that queer learners in South African township schools have an increased vulnerability, it is equally true that teachers can be instrumental in providing some degree of safety through support and encouragement for these learners. Disruption of homophobia needs to be expected of all teachers.

References
Butler, A., and G. Astbury. 2005. Over the rainbow: Recommendations for service provision asvoiced by post-apartheid South African gay and lesbian youth. Journal of Child and Youth Care Work 19: 126–36.
Grace, A.P., and F.J. Benson. 2000. Using autobiographical queer life narratives of teachers to connect personal, political and pedagogic spaces. International Journal of Inclusive Education 4, no. 2: 89–109.
Morrell, R. 2002. A calm after the storm? Beyond schooling as violence. Educational Review 54, no. 1: 37–46.
Selikow, T.-A., B. Zulu, and E. Cedra. 2002. The ingagara, the regte and the cherry: HIV/AIDS and youth culture in contemporary urban townships. Agenda 16, no. 53: 22–32.

Author

• Thabo Msibi, University of KwaZulu-Natal