Shifting the focus in anti-homophobia education

grantor: University of TorontoThis study identified some of the pitfalls of modernist constructs in critical education by examining the actual practices of anti-homophobia education in a social service context. Most anti-homophobia education is premised on the belief that the problem of homophobia stems from the lack of information about the other. This study examined through a focus group and interviews the ways in which anti-homophobia educators interrogate issues of sexual identities and categories, and the use of personal experience, through the practices of panel discussions, disclosures, and using 'out' lesbian and gay educators. Central to this discussion is the way in which oppression and domination are understood and taken up in the education. This research found that while educators were cognizant of the limits of the modern subject and possessed an awareness that tolerance does not disrupt, they struggled to find a pedagogy that would push beyond the limits of tolerance, and take up some postmodern implications.M.A