Background

Edoardo is a high school student in a small town close to the metropolitan city of Rome. His high school specializes in Humanistic Studies so we had the opportunity to talk about lesson content as well as classroom dynamics. In Italian schools, students have the same classmates for 5 years and attend all classes together with their classmates.

Q: Edoardo, we’re going to talk about LGBTQ themes in schools. The first thing I’d like to know is if durin your lesson your teachers have explicitly addressed sexual orientation and gender identity. For instance, in your Literature or Art History classes, is there usually explicit reference to the sexual orientation of artists or authors such as Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woold, Tamara de Lempicka?

Edoardo: Yes, this normally happens, especially when the teachers are talking about their works or the choices that these authors made in their style. If it’s not relevant to the artist’s works, then, no, sexuality of gender identity aren’t mentioned

Q: And when this happens, have you noticed some kind of reaction in the classroom?

Edoardo: Well, it depends. In the first years of high school when we were younger, there definitely was a reaction when sexuality was mentioned. We were also younger and our school is in a small context. This has really changed in the years. Now, there is really no reaction- Or actually, the reaction is just with regards to the didactic content of the lesson and not focused on the fact that sexuality and gender are mentioned. There is no judgment

Q: Let’s talk about texts, or films or stories that are chosen by your teachers as the focus of their lessons. Have they ever chosen texts that explicitly revolved around the theme of LGBTQ identities?

Edoardo: Well, yes, it has happened. Actually, we had suggested a few films although we never got round to watching them. For instance, in our Psychology class, I’d suggested we watch “The Danish girl”.  We did not manage to actually watch the movie but it did give us the opportunity to talk about gender and sexuality issues in the classroom in a series of lessons. So it was really useful and interesting

Q: So, these topics were the focus of your lesson, and not integrated in your lesson, correct? I’ll explain what I mean. If you talk about gender identity in a lesson on The Danish Girl, that’s the focus of your lesson. On the other hand, if you are talking about Alexander The Great in your History class and the teacher also mentions his male and female lovers, this is not the focus of the lesson but integrated in it

Edoardo: No, they were the always the focus of the lesson, not something that came about organically

Q: Edoardo, you study English at school. When teaching the language to talk about family and relationships, does your English teacher address the need to use inclusive language, for instance by using a neutral pronoun such as “they” when you don’t know whether your interlocutor’s partner is male or female?

Edoardo: No, this does now happen

Q: So, still on the topic of materials. Do you notice differences in the way your teachers deal with LGBTQ themes in the classroom? Do you notice a difference in their attitude, so to speak?

Edoardo: Yes, huge differences. And even just on their familiarity with the topic. Some teachers deal with LGBTQ themes organically when they randomly come up in class, without a problem. They’re not ashamed to ask if they don’t know something. Others, on the other hand, tend to cut the discussion short as they are clearly afraid of saying the wrong thing

Q: What’s your reaction to these different attitudes?

Edoardo: Well, different reactions. I personally get demoralized. I get upset because when teachers don’t know how to react to questions that are asked or just drop a topic, the students who are not informed are left without answers and an opportunity for learning is missed. Instead of getting the whole picture, they only get a small part because the topic is dropped quickly. But…I always take the opportunity to “correct” what the teacher is saying or to start a debate among students

Q: Why do you think teachers are scared?

Edoardo: Well, I don’t know. So, let’s say that with regards to teachers who are homophobic, I honestly don’t know why…I cannot understand why they would be. Also, I think they try to hide it at school because of their role. Those who are scared, I think are scared because they don’t know how to deal with LGBTQ themes and also they know that students today are a lot more informed and aware of gender and sexuality issues in general, and also more aware of their sexuality. So, I think they are scared that students who are more active might attack if teachers make a mistake.

Q: So, I’m going to mention some of the reasons that have been found for the teacher’s fear to deal with LGBTQ themes in the classroom. I’d like you to tell me if you think they are plausible reasons or not. So, for instance, some teachers have said they are scared to say the wrong thing

Edoardo: I believe this is true although students forget that teachers can make mistakes, too!

Q: Some teachers say they are scared of the parents’ reaction

Edoardo: Yeah, totally (laughs). This is because parents today are way too involved in their kids’ lives. If something happens at school, parents take it for granted that their child is right

Q: Some teachers are scared of their coworkers’ reaction

Edoardo: Ha. I never thought about that, interesting. The other reasons you mentioned, yes, but not this one. But, in the school context, at least in front of us teachers are always professional so I wouldn’t know. But clearly there are judgements and frictions. For example, sometimes you can tell that a teacher is tired because one of their colleagues’ hasn’t done their job or they have left something behind. So I imagine there might be frictions or that they might feel judged by their coworkers. We often talk about the teachers playing favorites but very rarely do we talk about the students having their favorite teachers.

Q: Ok, let’s talk about bullying. Have you had classes or extracurricular activities explicitly focused on how to deal with bullying, cyber-bullying and episodes of discrimination?

Edoardo: Well, we receive information from the class coordinator who is one of the class teachers. He explains what the procedure is in case of acts of bullying. But, to be honest, I don’t know to what extent this would work. Students would probably not talk to their teacher if something happened. In theory, yeah, we do have information

Q: What is it that does not work in anti bullying policies?

Edoardo: Yes, these policies and procedures don’t work because…Like I mentioned before both teachers and students have their favorite interlocutors. So, if some episode happens, even at home, the student doesn’t always want it to be reported to the class coordinator because then everyone will know about it. For instance, I had some issues during my second year of high school. At the end of the year, a teacher said in front of everyone in class: “Well, if you have had these issues, that’s no excuse for you not to concentrate on your education”. Yes, there was some truth to what she said but she was in no place to talk about my personal issues. Her job was to deal with my evaluation at school, not to talk about my private life. So, after that episode, I have only ever spoken to individual teachers, those I like to avoid having any teacher use my personal issues against me. You never know what’s worse: keeping your mouth shut and being a victim to bullying or facing the consequences of having spoken to a teacher.

Q: And what about mini-acts of bullying, microaggressions? Like someone staring, or laughing, smiling…

Edoardo: Oh yeah, those happen continuously

Q: Right. Well, are these micro-aggressions addressed by adults in the school context or are they ignored?

Edoardo: It depends. If a teacher is present, yes, they usually tell us to stop laughing for example. The only problem is that some things that happen outside the school are dealt with at school. For example, if a girl is made fun of outside school and a teacher learns about it, they adopt some kind of punishment which punishes the whole class instead of the offenders. Something didactic, usually. It should be dealt with differently

Q: As regards the LGBTQ community in the school context, do you think the community is represented in school projects, for instance, for Pride Day, Stonewall, the international day against homolesbotransphobia?

Edoardo: No. But I must say that it’s not uncommon for students now to add LGBTQ contents in school projects. I obviously do that because I am out at school. Some teachers react normally to it. Others react positively but explicitly. For instance there was this one teacher who once expressed her surprise for having found out that we are so informed on what Stonewall is or what Pride is.

Q: You just said you’re out. What does this mean to you at school?

Edaordo: Well, I never came out- which may sound like I’m contradicting myself- but I’m out. I mean, everyone assumed that I’m gay because I fit their stereotypical profile of the gay guy so the news spread.

Q: What do you mean by “the stereotypical profile of the gay guy2?

Edoardo: Well, I started high school with pink hair, nail polish on my nails, I gesticulate so I fit the other students’ idea of the gay guy.

Q: So, a stereotype of visibility?

Edoardo: Correct. I never denied it so the news spread. I became a sort of help-line for other students if something happened or if they had doubts about their sexuality. I helped a lot of people at school. So, it’s been happy for me at school. Except for maybe the times I wore make up to school. One teacher asked me. “Don’t you think that’s a bit too much?”. But then they got used to it. Even my grandma got used to it. At first she freaked out, but then got used to it. There are all sorts of people at school: some LGBTQ students are out, others don’t know they are LGBTQ yet, others are homophobic. There’s a lot of variety.

Q: One last question. You said a teacher commented on your make up by saying “Isn’t that a bit too much?”. What do you think she meant by that?

Edoardo: That was her way of asking me why I’d put make up on. She probably thought it was nicer to ask that way although it actually made it worse. It reflects the way she was impacted by my world. At the time I got upset. With time I thought about it and let it be. I talked about it with my classmates, and they were all on my side.

 

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