Disrupting “Safe Spaces” With Queer Bodies: Exploring Perceptions of Safety and Vulnerability as Teachers and Researchers

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Efforts to establish classrooms as “safe spaces” for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) individuals have primarily focused on building acceptance around LGBTQ civil rights and helping learners recognize and fight anti-gay bullying (Goldstein, Russell, & Daley, 2007; Macintosh, 2007; Taylor et al., 2011). Based on their own experiences, the presenters in this symposium offer disruptive questions and narratives about the discourses of safe, vulnerable, and queer spaces for students, pre- and in-service teachers, teacher educators, and researchers. They argue that “safety” discourses must also consider how bodies are ‘read’ and ‘marked’ as queer (or not) in classroom contexts and how this positioning affects other classroom members’ perceptions of their own safety.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Queer Studies

Chair

• Nicholas Edward Husbye

Papers

• Queer Behind the Camera: The Secret Life of the Queer Educational Researcher - Jacob McWilliams, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Perceptions of Queer Teacher Candidates in Ontario Initial Teacher Education Programs - Courtenay Fleet, Brock University

• “You Only Think About These Things Because You’re Gay”: Queering Difference in a Multicultural Education Course - Nicholas Edward Husbye

• “I Don’t Want Anyone to Feel Troubled After Today’s Class”: Queer Confessions From a Straight Teacher Educator/Researcher - Jennifer Watt, University of Manitoba

Discussant

• Catherine Taylor, University of Winnipeg