Non-Normative Gender and Sexual Identities in Schools: - Schools Out

ullying or whether it’s the general environment of the school, how they feel it’s
affecting them whilst they are trying to negotiate their non-normative identities. I want to
know, in your experience, what you feel, the short and long term effects of this bullying
are on LGBT or LGBT perceived people either that you’ve actually witnessed or that you
know of cos people have come up to you and said you know this is happening, this is
effecting me this way, or just how you think that it might be affecting them.
SJ: Um when in the couple of incidences that I’ve been involved in I’d say on the what
I’ve seen and what I’ve been really impressed at actually as a gay teacher is the two girls
specifically, the one that was doing the petition and the girl that got bullied in my lesson
for it um…
AM: {they were different girls?
SJ: They were two different girls yeah. Um that they actually, although the girl that got
bullied did get upset, she never once stepped away from the confrontation, she was very,
she was adamant that she wasn’t in the wrong and that she was that she wasn’t gonna be,
she wasn’t gonna to feel inadequate because of it and she stood there and she took
whatever they were saying and she was quite calm about it really, um it really impressed
me the way that she dealt with that. And then there’s also the other girl that with the
petition, obviously she herself is bisexual, she was a strong enough character to be open
about it and actually get a petition about it round school, so in that sense, in them two
incidences, that tells me that um actually kids are a lot probably could be a lot stronger
nowadays then then they have been and more willing to stand up for who they are then
they ever have been before. Um but then having said that the kids that are probably
suffering are maybe the ones that we don’t know about. So I can’t really comment on
them, but then you could also argue that in terms of long term effects of the ways schools
are um I’m probably a classic example because obviously the way I went through my
school. The way it was seen when I was at school I now don’t feel comfortable to be open
about it when I’m teaching. So that could be an example of it being a long term effect of
the way schools are. But I’m hoping that these girls that are being a bit more confident
that I was when I was at school are being, are doing something towards that.
AM: So perhaps sort of in ten years time when they’re in their mid twenties they’re
perhaps gonna have less effect that our generation.
SJ: Possibly.
AM: And maybe the next generation even less so and less so.
SJ: Yeah.
AM: Do you think though, those two examples that you’ve given of those two girls [//]
um [//] do you think it’s partly to do with the culture of your school and what you’ve told
me it seems very good with dealing with bullying, um whatever type of bullying it is.
And also just their own personalities in general, they sound like quite strong people.