The Classroom As a Political Space

Our identities do not cease to exist in the classroom. Classroom settings attempt to emit all our identities or focus only on those that are visible. Often, this is race.  But even this is not looked at closely or understood. Even race is made into a binary; a student is white or is of color. People of color are clumped and differences among tem are not explored. And what about those identities that are invisible? Identity categories such as sex, sexuality, and even gender are often invisible and ignored. For students performing “proper” heteronormativity, their sexuality, sex and gender is affirmed, normalized, and universalized. These individuals do not feel a need to reflect on this part of their identities. However, for students who do not perform “proper” heteronormativity, fitting into the “right” sex, sexuality, and gender weighs heavily on them and is a defining part of them. The classroom is a political space because our identities allow us to interpret information differently, and the information affects us differently. Nothing is neutral.
      There are certain majors who believe these discussions on sexuality and heteronormativity are not relevant to the subject. These are "hard" sciences, business classes, engineering etc. Also believed that sciences do not contribute to heteronormativity. The truth is even science promotes heteronormativity. Science is biased. Science is affected by culture and thus socially constructed. Virtually every major, whether humanities or not, deals with diversity and identity in the classroom.

Extra Reading:
 Emily Martin “The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Coinstructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles’” Signs, Vol. 16, No, 3 (Spring, 1991).