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Deconstruction of a social justice incidentHomophobic language and heteronormative ideologies in Australian schools

In contemporary Australian secondary schools, teachers and students negotiate learning in an environment of constant change. Throughout their time in secondary school, young people are often experiencing emotional upheaval, new responsibilities, emerging sexuality and their own, wild navigation through the journey to adulthood. Education author, Andrew Lines, suggests that adolescents are currently faced with demands, expectations, risks and threats that are more intensified than those of previous generations (2009). As microcosms of the wider society to which they belong, Australian secondary schools reflect the dominant discourses operating in contemporary Western culture. Seminal theorist on discourse, Norman Fairclough, argues that the dominant practices within the classroom actually help to perpetuate certain power relations already present within society (1993). The remainder of this paper will deal specifically with a social justice incident observed in an Australian high school with regard to the use of homophobic language and its effects in the classroom. In addition, the dominant discourses and power relations at work within the incident will be examined, as will the manner with which the issue was handled by the school and some alternatives to this approach.
 The following incident was observed recently in a year nine, mixed ability English class in a semi-rural state school. One male student (Student A) entered the classroom where the other students were already seated. The teacher was present but class had not yet begun. Another male student (Student B) shouted to Student A, “get a haircut, ya faggot”, gesturing to Student A’s shoulder-length hair. Student A responded passively by ignoring the comment. Other students laughed and the teacher instructed the class to “settle down”. The following lesson, the teacher added the word ‘faggot’ to a quiz in which the students were to use the word correctly in a sentence. One female student (Student C) wrote the answer “Student A is a faget [sic]”. The teacher marked her answer as incorrect but did not pursue the issue further with this class.
 There are several dominant discourses operating within the scenario described above and the subsequent response to this scenario. These discourses are related to heteronormative ideologies and constructions of gender with regard to masculinity and femininity. In the above scenario, Student B used a derogatory term to describe a fellow male classmate, Student A, as homosexual. The implication is not necessarily that Student A is in fact homosexual, but that simply being homosexual is unacceptable in the heteronormative space that is the Australian high school classroom. Theorist, Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli suggests that the normalisation of heterosexuality as the only acceptable sexuality contributes to homophobia in educational settings (2000). According to Holmes, Hughes and Julian, heterosexuality is often understood to be the defining feature of masculinity (2003). Therefore, for Student B to call Student A a ‘faggot’, one might assume Student B was attempting to insult Student A’s masculinity. In this scenario, Student B observed Student A’s physical appearance, that is, his long hair, and announced to the peer group that Student A was a feminine male. Student B also concluded from this that according to heteronormative本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。