Talking about straight privilege
I'm going to preface this by saying I know some of you reading this are straight, and that's just fine. You can help, too!
This Friday, I will be giving a workshop to a group of my colleagues on heterosexism and straight privilege. This workshop is taking place within the larger context of a two-week-long workshop on culturally responsive pedagogy in which participants (all faculty members at the community college where I teach) will be laying bare issues of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. The group is small, but they are influential within the college and will have the opportunity to touch many students' lives over the course of their careers.
Given this, I'm asking for your help. I would like to go before my colleagues with something more than my own experience and citations from a few dry, scholarly journals in my hand. I would like to carry your voices, your concerns to my fellow educators. If you are interested in being a part of my informal survey, please answer any or all of the following questions. I'm screening posts so that you may reply privately.
Here are the questions:
1) If you have been a college student, what were/are your experiences with heterosexism in the classroom?
2) What do you want straight educators to know about who you are and what it means to be queer in a straight world?
3) What would you like to see done differently in college classrooms so that they are safer, more inclusive places for everyone?
I hope to use some of the feedback I get in my discussion on Friday. I will reveal identities of posters only if they grant me express permission to do so; otherwise, contributions will remain anonymous.
This Friday, I will be giving a workshop to a group of my colleagues on heterosexism and straight privilege. This workshop is taking place within the larger context of a two-week-long workshop on culturally responsive pedagogy in which participants (all faculty members at the community college where I teach) will be laying bare issues of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. The group is small, but they are influential within the college and will have the opportunity to touch many students' lives over the course of their careers.
Given this, I'm asking for your help. I would like to go before my colleagues with something more than my own experience and citations from a few dry, scholarly journals in my hand. I would like to carry your voices, your concerns to my fellow educators. If you are interested in being a part of my informal survey, please answer any or all of the following questions. I'm screening posts so that you may reply privately.
Here are the questions:
1) If you have been a college student, what were/are your experiences with heterosexism in the classroom?
2) What do you want straight educators to know about who you are and what it means to be queer in a straight world?
3) What would you like to see done differently in college classrooms so that they are safer, more inclusive places for everyone?
I hope to use some of the feedback I get in my discussion on Friday. I will reveal identities of posters only if they grant me express permission to do so; otherwise, contributions will remain anonymous.