1. Representations of Gender and Sexual Diversity in Life Orientation Comprehensive Sexuality Education.
- Author
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Rossouw, Jane
- Subjects
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GENDER nonconformity , *SEX education , *GENDER inequality , *CRITICAL discourse analysis , *SEXUAL diversity - Abstract
A critical discourse analysis of South Africa's Life Orientation Comprehensive Sexuality Education Scripted Lesson Plans for grades 8 to 12 reveals its complicity in perpetuating epistemic ignorance (Alcoff, 2007) regarding gender and sexual diversity. Epistemic ignorance refers to the active production of ignorance by dominant groups as a mechanism for perpetuating oppression and marginalisation of non-normative identities and knowledges (Tuana, 2006). Despite claiming inclusivity, the curriculum systematically erases, distorts, and excludes representations of non-cisgender, non-heterosexual identities and experiences. Simultaneously, it reproduces heteronormative narratives and hegemonic gender ideologies that serve to maintain patriarchal power structures and the subordination of girls and women (Steyn, 2015). The findings uncover how the curriculum upholds cisheteronormative dominance and gender/sexual inequalities through: (1) incessant framing of content within the male/female binary; (2) representations of biological processes and contraceptives that position femininity as passive and subservient; and (3) superficial inclusion of LGBTQIA identities that lack substantive engagement with their lived realities. Overall, the text exemplifies how institutionalised curricula can perpetuate epistemic ignorance by actively producing "unknowings" (Tuana, 2006) that marginalise oppressed groups and uphold inequitable power relations, even under the guise of promoting inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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