The Pretense of "Respect": How Primary-Grade Teachers Succumb to the Regulatory Gaze of Heteronormativity

• In Event: 14.043 - Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: 14.043-21 - Heteronormativity and Its Discontents: Teachers, Students, and Schools

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which primary grade teachers use “respect of belief” as a rationale for avoiding discussions about what they consider to be “sensitive” subjects. This pretense becomes problematic when teachers avoid presenting diverse representations of families or actively confronting homophobic comments because they do not want to infringe upon beliefs taught at home. For public school teachers, addressing politically and religiously contentious issues can be a challenge. In addition to state policies, district mandates, and community norms, teachers can be confronted with a minefield of personal beliefs (that of their own and of families) that they need to navigate. Unfortunately, not all parents’ beliefs are respected in schools especially when teachers perpetuate normative discourses of heteronormativity.

Author

• Amy L. Shema, University of Rochester