Reconceptualizing the Cultural Border-Crossing Framework to Understand the Experiences of Gay Men in STEM

• In Event: Culturally Relevant and Equity-Minded Approaches to Science Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Gay men continue to experience discriminatory and oppressive practices, even as societal attitudes towards them have improved. Using a narrative inquiry approach, this study examined how students who self-identified as gay men experienced heterosexism and heteronormativity in their STEM majors. Drawing upon the work of Costa (1995) and Aikenhead (2001), the goal of this study was to determine how gay men navigated, or were not able to navigate, cultural borders between their lived-world and the world of canonical science. Data collected through the utilization of interviews, photo-elicitation, and photo-feedback were used to reconceptualize cultural border crossing as a continuum of navigational responses gay men exhibit to the genderized conditions of their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) environments.

Author

• David Steele, Alder Graduate School of Education