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development of distorted knowledge legitimated by those with economic power – in this case the authors themselves. The study’s goal to expose gender bias in school textbooks may prove futile, as the very form of discrimination they wish to eliminate is subtly ignored in their own work.
Since 2012, things have not changed. Using content analysis of texts and images and with a focus on nationality, gender and race, the study by Roohani and Molana (2013) examined how different cultures were reflected in Interchange 1, Interchange 2 and Interchange 3, and whether cultural bias or inequality was present. Their analysis revealed that the white male group was dominant in all three textbooks. Like females, African characters were represented less often in all three English language Iranian textbooks. In some cases, where African characters were represented in the textbooks, a negative picture was depicted. This may show racial bias and cause misunderstandings about the African community in the English as foreign language learners’ minds. The authors assert that negative media stereotypes are demoralising and reduce self-esteem and expectations.
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dichotomised heterosexuality/homosexuality, setting the stage to see sexuality in terms of normal and abnormal. It was found that ‘traditional males’ were the ones society understands.
The ‘non-traditional’ male, however, presents an unfamiliar package, even if the qualities he exhibits are seen as desirable, such as being an attentive, nurturing father. The texts ignored alternative sexualities, which is part of how heterosexual privilege is maintained. It is therefore recommended that textbooks should challenge heterosexism, not only to help break down the norms that confine everybody to rigid gender role stereotypes, but also to encourage students to develop the critical thinking skills to question presumptions and biases they encounter in their lives (Temple, 2005).
Temple (2005) revealed some useful insights regarding the predominance of heteronormative discourse; however, content and thematic analyses provide only limited insight into the social conditions of production. They do not illuminate how the discourses are constructed (Wilmot
& Naidoo, 2011). It is for this reason that Wilmot and Naidoo (2011) applied the CDA approach. Just as the post-apartheid South African schooling system is foregrounded within a paradigm of social justice and non-discrimination (Mbelu, 2011), the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum has a specific commitment to social justice (DoE, 2003). Yet this was not evident in the study by Wilmot and Naidoo (2011), who investigated representation/construction of sexualities and sexual identities in a sample of South African Grade 10 LO textbooks. The findings reveal that LO plays a very powerful, regulatory role in terms of constructing and transmitting normative values. The textbooks that were studied were redolent with normalising judgements concerning behaviour deemed either acceptable or unsatisfactory. In particular, the textbooks provided – either implicitly or explicitly – particular versions of sexuality that were deemed prevalent and conventional, and sexualities that were seen as abnormal and disruptive.
The textbook conveyed rigid and stable versions of sexuality, which did not promote inclusivity but rather homophobia.
Despite the findings of Wilmot and Naidoo (2011), South African textbooks have not changed regarding inclusiveness (Potgieter & Reygan, 2012). These latter authors examined selected LO textbooks for Grades 7 to 12 in South Africa, with the intention of establishing whether the curriculum encouraged full citizenship for sexual and gender minorities. Their findings showed inconsistency in the representation of these identities. Gay male identities were represented in some instances, lesbian and bisexual identities rarely, and transgender and intersex identities not at all. Two of the four series examined were almost entirely silent about LGBTI identities.
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Compulsory heterosexuality sets itself up as the original, the true, the authentic, the norm; being homosexual was always a kind of miming, a vain effort to participate in the plenitude of naturalised heterosexuality.
Invisibility negates the different ‘ways of knowing’ of LGBTI learners, tending not to facilitate a critique of the discrimination, prejudice and social injustices faced by many LGBTI people, and lessening the importance of social justice and citizenship education in South Africa (Potgieter & Reygan 2012). These writers conclude that textbooks should problematise heteronormative positionings, arguing that education should break away from the ‘normative’
into the realm of discomfort. There is a need for governments to produce textbooks, which are relevant and appropriate for all. Heightened awareness is not simply about sensitisation – problematising textbooks could possibly lead to social change.
Globally, textbook content is “the result of competition between powerful groups who see it as being central in the creation of collective national memory designed to meet specific cultural, economic and social imperatives” (Bazzul & Sykes, 2011, p. 11). This intended ideology flows through the “educational discourse” within a particular context (Naseem, 2008, p. 25).
Textbooks that are relevant and appropriate for all may conflict with the ideological jargon meant to convince the reader of benefits of a particular type of orientation in society (Potgieter
& Reygan, 2012).
An investigation of heteronormativity in the McGraw Hill Ryerson Biology 12 textbook widely prescribed in Ontario schools found silence regarding same-sex attraction and divergent sexual identities and practices (Bazzul & Sykes, 2011). The study reported the invisibility of alternative sexualities in the text. It also lamented the fact that, despite heightened sensitivity to oppressive discourses in instructional materials, the textbook – selected based on its wide circulation – transmits binary representations of gender and sexuality and strongly heteronormative constructions of sexuality (Bazzul & Sykes, 2011, p. 265).
Representations of male and female social actors in selected Iranian EFL textbooks echoed these findings (Salami & Ghajarieh, 2015), endorsing the discourse of compulsory heterosexuality, an institutionalised form of social practice in Iran. They found that the texts frequently reinforce binary constructions of gender and sexuality, and either overtly or covertly reinforces “dominant heteronormative narratives of sexual dimorphism, male hegemony, and heteronormativity” (Salami & Ghajarieh, 2015, p. 6). It is necessary to question whether
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textbooks deliberately disregard differences and seek to construct LGBT identities as 'just like us', based on the assumption that LGBTI people seek assimilation into traditional heterosexual institutions. It can be concluded that cultural and religious relativism negates social transformation, and often this is reflected in school textbooks (Salami & Ghajarieh, 2015).