Sexualities in Education: A Reader

by Erica R. Meiners (Editor), Therese Quinn (Editor)

This book has received the AESA (American Educational Studies Association) Critics Choice Award 2013.
With germinal texts, new writings, and related art, Sexualities in A Reader illuminates a broad scope of analysis and organization. Composed of a framing essay and nine sections edited by established and emerging scholars and addressing critical topics for researchers and students of sexualities and education, the text provides a timely overview of sexualities considered through a variety of educational lenses and theoretical frameworks. Threads woven throughout include visual, literary, and performing arts; youth perspectives; and an emphasis on justice work in education. The volume provides entry points for students and practitioners at a range of levels. Research-based articles, essays, interviews, poetry and ready-to-reproduce visual materials from the Americas, Europe, and Asia are linked to a resource section to facilitate deep learning, on-going investigation, and informed action.

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT

426 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 2012

Reviews

[Stef Rozitis]

The authors look also at intersectionality. What has homophobia or homo-hatred got to do with racism, sexism, colonising ways of thinking or capitalism? Why do we want "marriage equality" or why might we not? Is there a hidden cost to becoming respectable or even "normal"? How do we undo preudice without coming in too far from the margins into oppressive systems? Who is "too queer" to be included? How do various teachers navigate their need to educate about themselves and educate as themselves? I was disappointed that although there was one mother of a toddler, there were no early childhood teachers included among the voices of educators but this was a small problem in a text that managed to challenge me and fill in some of the gaps in my understanding.

To be sure there was a USA-centric view in the histories as they were shown, but much of it I could see connections to my own (Australian) context and also unfortunately we follow the USA quite a lot in our culture, perhaps particularly in our gay liberation concerns (hence the recent and middle-class fuss about "marriage"). This book leaves you with gaps and questions, some chapters are hard to get your head around, others are deceptively simple. The pictures on the whole are too small to view properly (they really do need to be bigger or have a link so we can look them up online).

Nevertheless my acknowledgement of imperfections does not stop this book from having been a significant and educative read for me. It may not be a starting text for someone who has never encountered queer theory (though it's worth a try for that) but it is a very valuable text. One of those ones I get from the library and then consider buying my own copy.

[Monica]

A thorough and thought provoking collection!