There is a problem in South African Schools. The problem is that heterosexuality is still the dominant sexuality students are exposed to.
Homosexual and counter sexualities are ignored, excluded, and shunned from the mainstream educational curriculum. When the education department and schools introduce inclusive comprehensive sex education, they face fierce backlash from conservative groups objecting to the normalisation of same-sex sexualities in schools. Not only are these groups against LGBTQI+ relationships, but they also oppose teaching about consent, body autonomy, and sexual and reproductive health. These objections enforce the exclusive teaching of heterosexuality and say to LGBTQI+ youth that they do not belong and that they do not matter. This message undermines the humanity of queer learners and opens opportunities for their abuse, marginalisation, and denigration. This problem needs to be fixed.
The current curriculum fails to include and enable inclusive discussions of gender and sexualities, but before we can look at a new curriculum, we need to acknowledge that heterosexism and heteronormativity dominate the culture and curriculum in schools and is enforced in various ways. Once we realise this we can then examine and unpack existing curricula to create one that is transformative and disrupts schooling and societal norms to create inclusive spaces for LGBTQI+ students and learning.
In the current schooling system, same-sex relationships are rendered invisible, and if not rendered completely invisible, LGBTQI+ students are hyper-regulated and told not to flaunt their sexualities because they are seen as vulgar and inappropriate. School uniforms are also carefully policed and free gender expression is in most cases forbidden for queer students. Furthermore, there is a fear of contagion that exists in schools where LGBTQI+ students are isolated for the laughable fear that they will contaminate the sexuality of their straight peers. This heterosexist culture causes LGBTQI+ students to experience environments that are violent and unsafe, and which have detrimental effects on their mental health.
In the current curriculum, Life Orientation (LO) is supposed to teach about sexuality. The problem is that the subject guidelines for LO do not stipulate that counter-sexualities must be examined in the curriculum. This has resulted in sexuality education that is heterocentric and heterosexist. Teaching material and lesson resources privilege and normalise heterosexuality. When talking about sex and relationships, they are always framed in terms of “boy-girl” relationships, showing that heterosexuality is “natural” and “normal”. If LGBTQI+ relationships are brought up in lessons, they are usually framed negatively, referred to as un-Christian and un-African, destroying traditional family values and a threat to society. Teachers bring their moralistic and repressive ideas into lessons and fail to create a classroom space that is safe and non-judgemental. Taking all of this into account, what could an inclusive, comprehensive sex and sexualities curriculum could look like?
An important place to start is teaching students that gender and sexualities are social constructions and not fixed binaries. We learn, enacted, and perform these constructs in ways that make us think that they are fixed and essential. The curriculum should also pay attention to the historical and cultural forces that drive homophobia. This can be included in a broader social context and include discussions around colonialism, apartheid, patriarchy, and other societal contexts that have enforced homophobia.
When teaching about sexualities there must be a move away from moralistic and instructive styles. Teachers must acknowledge that students have their own agency and are sexual beings. The success of an inclusive curriculum ultimately rests in the hands of teachers. they are responsible for creating non-judgmental and non-moralistic approaches to the teaching of sex and sexuality, as well as creating safe and supportive spaces in their classrooms.
Teachers need to also incorporate the knowledge and experiences of young people as legitimate sexual beings and need to include sex education lessons that deal with LGBTQI+ issues.
I put out a question on Instagram asking my LGBTQI+ followers to tell me what they should have learnt in sex education classes by did not. The most common answer was douching. We were not taught about this in school sex ed classes because it is not a part of a heteronormative sex lesson. We were taught about using condoms to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but that information did not apply to us gay teenagers. We were also not aware that you needed to use lube when having sex with another man. This information would have saved us all a lot of frustration and pain. Alternatives to “penis in vagina sex” were not taught and we were thought that “gay sex” was dirty. The common message was that if we had “gay sex” we would contract HIV. Speaking about HIV, sex education should be teaching about PREP. many school leaving teens do not know about PREP or that you can get it for free at certain clinics. In short, the common response from my followers what that any form of non-heterosexist sex and sexuality lessons would have been beneficial.
Classrooms need to become spaces where student’s questions, concerns and experiences are taken seriously and used as starting points for inclusive discussions about sex, sexuality, and relationships. Sex education needs to relevant for all students including LGBTQI+ ones. Unfortunately, this can only be achieved when teachers are comfortable with the curricular content, do not impose their own views onto students and are willing to give students honest and accurate information about sex and sexualities. I am not sure if the education system is ready for this yet.
Bhana, D. (2012). Understanding and addressing homophobia in schools: A view from
teachers. South African Journal of Education, 32(3), 307–318. DOI: 10.15700/saje.
v32n3a659.
Bhana, D. (2014b). Ruled by hetero-norms? Raising some moral questions for teachers in
South Africa. Journal of Moral Education, 43(3), 362–376. https://doi.org/10.1080/
03057240.2014.922943.
Davis, R. (2019, November 15). Schools sex-ed row part of a wider culture war in which
SA kids are pawns. Daily Maverick. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-11-15-
schools-sex-ed-row-part-of-a-wider-culture-war-in-which-sa-kids-are-pawns/
Davis, R. (2019, November 15). Schools sex-ed row part of a wider culture war in which
SA kids are pawns. Daily Maverick. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-11-15-
schools-sex-ed-row-part-of-a-wider-culture-war-in-which-sa-kids-are-pawns/
Source: Gay Pages Summer 2023
