Exerpt from my essay "Gay and Lesbian Literature In The Classroom- A Redefiniton of Cultural Diversity"

Friday, February 19, 2010

Professors from the time they are undergraduates through the transition of being graduate students, are usually/commonly taught the fundamentals of what makes a good teacher. One major principle of academic freedom is the idea of enculturation-- the ability to incorporate diversity of either a cultural, ethnical or a sexual nature in the classroom without fear of reprisal. The premise of this paper is to inform people of the growing interest in as well as the growing necessity of incorporating gay and lesbian literature in the college classroom.

For every gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) individual, the coming out process is an excruciating experience,more difficult than one could ever fathom. In an article by Gilda Lopez and Nancy Chism in an article entitled “Classroom Concerns for Gay and Lesbian Students: The Invisible Minority” (1993) it is stated that “Teachers should offer students who appear to be having difficulties with sexual identification indirect rather than direct offers of help” (p.98). The article goes on to say that “making supportive general statements rather than singling out particular students was thought to be the safest course of action, whether the teacher is heterosexual or is gay or lesbian” (p.98).

In terms of redefining Cultural Diversity, one can look at the possibility of integrating literature, which deals with issues of sexual identity and/or orientation into a classroom of any discipline to further the on-going struggle for acceptance and validation from heterosexual peers. For example, incorporating such texts in biology or chemistry classes will aid in the discussion of one's being born homosexual or of homosexuality being one’s choice and having sufficient scientific data presented to support such findings. Furthermore, incorporating such texts in an English class could also open the floor to discussion through a term known as personal narrative. An example of this could be having the students put themselves in the mindset of a gay, lesbian, or bisexual student, writing their own coming out story including what adversity one would face and how one goes about coming out. This activity will in turn introduce the students to a different side of cultural diversity, not just that of race, ethnicity and gender, but also sexual identity and/or orientation. Applying this activity to real life situations that are faced daily by GLB students and faculty alike will make the discussions more intimate and well rounded.

Further evidence supported in Lopez and Chisms’ study indicates that in one student's ethics course the instructor set aside an entire week to talk about gay, lesbian and bisexual issues, yet another student in a different section of the same course stated that the instructor skipped over the topic entirely (p.102). The article continues to say that in this particular section, topics of gay, lesbian, and bisexual issues, when they relate to acts of deviance and sodomy, but never discussed as a part of a broader cultural issue.

According to Lopez and Chism, “An instructor may avoid gay and lesbian issues in the classroom either because of their own ignorance because they feel as though they do not possess sufficient knowledge to respond to student work on the subject or they refuse to see that there is an issue and they are uncomfortable with presenting materials of a controversial nature” (p. 102). Another reason why professors are uncomfortable is a lack of pertinent textual resources to aid them in the instruction of the aforementioned topics. A valid fear could come in the form of possible violence towards the instructor or the students in the class.

Incorporating GLBT content in the curriculum, however, would offer a sense of validation, legitimacy, and even give a sense of visibility to the gay and lesbian community. Lopez and Chism conclude that “For students in the coming out process, such experiences can be immensely supportive and for heterosexual students, these can be good opportunities to become more open-minded and less homophobic” (p.102).

Martin Esslin, a literary critic, in his essay “Aristotle and the Advertisers: the Television Commercial as Drama” anthologized in Text Book: Writing through Literature, states that “Aristotle believed that plots are more interesting if they lead to a change from ignorance to knowledge. He called such a change 'recognition' or 'anagnorisis'” (Scholes, Comley, Ulmer, 2002, p.51). The precise movement from a person's being ignorant about homosexuality, that is to say not having sufficient knowledge about the subject, to becoming more knowledgeable about one’s peers is achievable through exposing college students to materials dealing with homosexuality, thereby promoting this idea of anagnorisis.

A huge comfort for students in the coming out process is to know that an instructor is ready, willing and able to be a safe haven in which to discuss issues of identity and orientation freely without the fear of reprisal or ridicule. In her essay “Including All Voices In The Classroom: Teaching Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Students,” Kristen Renn states that “Being knowledgeable or supportive does not necessarily imply a great deal of advocacy or action on the part of the faculty; it has however a positive impact on our LGB students” (p.130). This is crucial when dealing with students who feel as though they have nowhere to turn or that they are unwanted, unneeded or even unaccepted by faculty.

Anagnorisis is valuable to any aspect of learning, whether it is in the classroom or the real world. Any opportunity one has to learn something new and exciting about the world they may have perceived as wrong or unjust is just another example of an ability to move from ignorance about a prejudice to gaining more knowledge and being more capable of discussing issues of that nature. The inclusion of sexual identity/orientation to the list of approved groups that can be discussed openly and freely by college faculty will promote the movement from ignorance to knowledge (anagnorisis), formulating new opinions about sexual identity (dianoia), and also give way to a reversal of homophobic attitudes, thus leading to the acceptance of differences (peripetia).