On Youth Navigating Moments of Gendered and Sexual (Dis)Orientation

• In Event: I-Presentation Gallery

iPresentation URL: https://aera24-aera.ipostersessions.com/Default.aspx?s=AD-C0-89-75-63-B5-27-CB-CE-1B-03-EF-5C-DC-31-D0

Abstract

I describe how youth navigate competing discourses of gender and sexuality. The data comes from a summer reading camp I organized with ten youth where we read two young adult novels and engaged in various literacy activities, prompting discussions about gender and sexuality. Ahmed’s (2006) theory of disorientation helped me analyze our conversations, specifically focusing on the youths’ navigation of various gendered and sexual discourses. My findings suggest that youth recognize how certain discourses aim to produce narrow and particular gendered and sexual subjects–and that, at times, they yield to such demands. Simultaneously, though, there were times the youth resisted such expectations. As such, the youth demonstrated an ability to navigate complex, competing gendered and sexual discourses.

Author

• Caleb Chandler, Winthrop University