Queering the Icelandic upper secondary schools : heteronormative discourse and the experiences of queer students in Icelandic upper secondary schools

Doktorsritgerðin er framlag til fræða um hinsegin ungmenni. Hún beinir sjónum að orðræðu hins gagnkynhneigða regluverks (heteronormative discourse) og reynslu hinsegin nemenda í íslenskum framhaldsskólum. Hinseginfræði mynda kenningarramma rannsóknarinnar. Einnig er stuðst við ólíkar kenningar um mótun rýmisins, mótspyrnu, ásamt kenningum um samtvinnun kyngervis og kynhneigðar. Markmið rannsóknarinnar er að skoða og lýsa þeim þáttum orðræðunnar sem festa í sessi hetrósexíska hugmyndafræði innan framhaldsskólans, jafnt innan stofnana sem og á milli einstaklinga. Ennfremur er áhersla lögð á að lýsa reynslu hinsegin nemenda. Eigindlegum rannsóknaraðferðum er beitt: Í fyrsta lagi voru tekin 14 viðtöl við hinsegin nemendur og í öðru lagi framkvæmdar vettvangsathuganir í tveimur framhaldsskólum, annars vegar í Reykjavík og hins vegar utan Reykjavíkur. Gögnunum var safnað á tímabilinu 2010 til 2012. Þátttakendur í viðtalsrannsókninni voru fæddir á tímabilinu 1987 til 1993 og höfðu annaðhvort nýlega brautskráðst eða voru enn í framhaldsskóla. Niðurstöður benda til þess að ungt fólk sem er að velta fyrir sér kynhneigð eða birtingarmyndum kyngervis, eigi erfitt með að fóta sig innan framhaldsskólans. Þetta er þó einstaklingsbundið og fer jafnframt eftir skólum, eins og fram kemur í þeim ritrýndu greinum sem fylgja ritgerðinni. Stofnanabundinn hetrósexismi, hulinn eða áberandi, er hluti af menningu skólanna og samskipti starfsmanna og nemenda. Ennfremur er kyngervi og kynhneigð mótuð af orðræðu hins gagnkynhneigða regluverks. Þar fá ákveðnar birtingarmyndir kyngervis meira vægi og orðræðan um kynhneigð snýst um gagnkynhneigð, þar sem þeir nemendur sem ekki laga sig að ríkjandi viðmiði kynhneigðar og/eða kyngervis eru settir skör lægra.This dissertation expands the literature on queer youth. It focuses on the heteronormative discourse and the experiences of queer students in Icelandic upper secondary schools. Queer theory forms the overall theoretical framework of the research. It is employed in connections to different theories on space, resistance and the intersectionality of gender and sexuality. The purpose of the study is to examine and describe the discursive factors that contribute to the heterosexist ideology within the upper secondary school settings, both at individual and institutional levels. Furthermore, the focus is on the experience of queer students. The study is rooted in a qualitative research tradition and consists of two main parts: an interview study with 14 LGBT students (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) and an ethnographic study conducted at two upper secondary schools, one located in Reykjavík and another in a small town in northern Iceland. Data were collected over a period of two years (2010–2012). The participants were born in 1987–1993 and had graduated, or were still attending, an upper secondary school. The findings suggest that young people, who are questioning their gender identity, sexuality or both, find it difficult to come to terms with their feelings during their formative years in upper secondary school. This depends on the individual and the particular school setting, as revealed in the three articles presented at the end of the synopsis. These articles all conclude that LGBT students face difficulties when coming into the open with their feelings, although the scale and scope of these difficulties varied among the research participants. Institutionalized heterosexism, either subtle or overt, is interwoven into the school culture and social interactions of faculty members and students. In addition, gender and sexuality within the upper secondary school are still constructed around the discourse of heteronormativity. Particular gender performances gain more capital and the discourse of sexuality revolves around heterosexuality, in some instances marginalizing those students that do not conform to the dominant discourse of either gender or sexuality