As transgender subjectivities are being placed at the forefront of collective global awareness, school environments are now obligated to acknowledge social constructions of gender and adopt trans awareness (Kroeger & Regula, 2017). Despite the physical evidence of human right violations against the LGBTIQ+ community, poor pervasive understanding around gender and sexuality together with unchallenged levels of homophobia, are particularly situated on the African continent (Izugbara et al., 2020). Currently, there are several African countries that continue to impose laws that oppose fundamental rights of LGBTIQ+ identities.
Countries such as Somali, Mauritania, and Sudan have endorsed the death penalty for homosexual activity among men, while homosexual identities face life imprisonment in Uganda and Sierra Leone. While attitudes toward homosexuality vary across Africa, South Africa has granted full constitutional protection against homophobic discrimination, and
actively examine disruptive gender binaries that impede school structures and practices (Leonardi & Staley, 2018).
However, Francis et al., (2019) researched the role school cultures play in marginalisation, silence, and rejection of non-conforming identities across Southern African countries. Their findings revealed that across Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa, school environments were beleaguered by heteronormativity and patriarchal ideas that were reinforced and maintained by teachers and school managers (Francis et al., 2019). Although governmental policies considered gender identity and diversity (DBE, 2011), the actual implementation of these policies by the school communities continue to be disregarded. Francis et al., (2019) claimed that schools have a normalised expectation to function using exclusive heterosexual cisgender traits that stem from robust religious influence, coupled with heteronormativity entrenched in society which filter into the school context. Kuloba (2014) argued that hostility against homosexuality in Africa is a combined manifestation of biblical imperatives together with African culture. Children within this cultural context are taught from an early age to avoid acts or behaviours that place shame on the family, with young boys in particular being expected to bring glory to the family (Kuloba, 2014). Homosexuality is considered a shameful act or behaviour, and is at times undisclosed by family members, with murder of LGBTIQ+ identities being the most hostile form of homophobia under colonial laws.
3.4.1 LGBTQI+ and schooling in South Africa
The remainder of this chapter focuses on South African studies that address discrimination and violence against LGBTIQ+ identities in school environments. Daniels et al., (2019) conducted focus group discussions among gender non-conforming high school learners. Their findings revealed that learners are constantly subjected to exclusion, marginalisation, and discrimination. Msibi (2012) also conducted research among queer learners in a rural high school in South Africa, and discussions revealed the constant use of derogatory language in the school environment and the detrimental effects thereof on developing young LGBTIQ+
identities. While Msibi (2012) exposed the implications of the use of homophobic and transphobic terms such as ‘moffie’, ‘ongqingili’, or ‘isitabane’ on gender queer learners, Bhana (2012) argued that teachers’ innate beliefs of gender and sexual diversity as morally incorrect, governed school environments, and consequently, undermined gender progressive education policies. Daniels et al., (2019) demonstrated how discriminative practices during
lessons emasculate LGBTIQ+ identities in classrooms. This was supported by an incident where a teacher in the study explained magnetism as opposite charges attract, and then conveyed that two men cannot correspond with one another. The teacher in this instance was oblivious to his/her own personal gender bias and unawareness of LGBTIQ+ identities that were personally affected by the statement. Consequently, this instance showcased how illinformed teachers impose their gendered power and sustain heteronormative hierarchies present in school environments.
The tension that persists among heterosexual cisgender identities and non-conforming or LGBTIQ+ identities have been forged through South Africa’s robust history, which gave rise to the complex multicultural society of today. Bhana et al., (2019) stated that the South African education system attempts to redress LGBTIQ+ inequalities, yet school institutions continue to resist change, and remain strongly gendered, heteronormative, and steadfast in traditional and cultural beliefs. Similar to other African countries, these ideals primarily stem from the apartheid era, through the adoption of the Christian National Education curriculum which focused primarily on religious conservation teachings. Christianity completely condemns homosexuality as a way of life, and defends condemnation of such by stating that non-conforming identities are morally wrong, deviant, and sinful (Bhana, 2012; Msibi, 2012;
Francis, 2013; DePalma & Francis, 2014; Reygan & Francis, 2015; Francis & Reygan, 2016).
Langa (2015) introduced terms such as ‘un-African’ and ‘un- Christian’ to describe how homosexuality is viewed in South African township schools. The interview and focus group discussion revealed that LGBTIQ+ identities were labelled as “sexually aberrant, perverse, contaminating and threatening” to the globally recognised establishment of a nuclear family (Langa, 2015). Even though teachers from an African community shared these views, various ethnic and religious groups within South Africa’s diverse society holds onto similar philosophies. Begley (2000) reasoned that these philosophical beliefs stem from religious studies surfacing throughout the 19th century, where society assigned desirable attributes to a woman, such as piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity, and attached femininity to the character of a woman based on virtue. Religious studies during this time further portrayed women as uninterested in sex and vulnerable to seduction, with the loss of purity being symbolised as unnatural and unfeminine (Begley, 2000). The idealisation of femininity had drastic implications on men, as men were seen as polar opposites; this gave rise to notion of masculinity. This polarisation of men from women and the prohibition of feminine traits inscribed hyper masculine traits, such as the male thirst for success and status, judged on their
ability to be tough, confident, and resilient, and commended on aggressiveness, violence, and boldness. Begley (2000) claimed that the more men and women conformed to these attributes, the stronger heteronormativity became in the global society, thus giving rise to the gender binary present today.
Even though the South African government implemented the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in an attempt to shift educational perspectives and identify new forms of freedoms for LGBTIQ+ identities in schools, discrimination and marginalisation of transgender identities continue. This curriculum-based approach to teaching and learning focuses on physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and cognitive aspects surrounding gender and sexuality, in both formal and informal school settings (Adesina & Olufadewa, 2020). While the CSE is scientifically supported with incremental and age appropriate content aimed at cultivating everyday life skills and reinforcing healthy sexual understandings among young children (Adesina & Olufadewa, 2020), deeply embedded normative views and hierarchies of heteronormative power command moral politics and exclusionary practices in schools (Bhana et al., 2010). There has been a surge in research focusing on dismantling systems of heteronormativity through transgender studies over the past decade, with emphasis being placed on transgender agency and how each individual should be empowered to make active decisions in order to meet his or her own holistic needs through the CSE curriculum (Hedge
& Mackenzie, 2012).
Research shows that despite the aim of the Bill of Rights (Act 108 of 1996) to provide equality, human dignity, and freedom and security with regard to sexuality and reproductive decisions, developing agency among LGBTIQ+ identities are compromised in school environments. Additionally, the agency of transgender identities is further jeopardised when their personal growth, ideas, and possibilities become dishevelled by toxic societal norms and expectations. Society’s construction of what transgender identities should and should not be and do, are determined by heterosexual social and cultural narratives and a complex classification of masculinities. Mayeza and Bhana (2020) researched “understandings of masculinities in South African primary schools” and found that young masculinities struggle with the contractions of “being a real boy”. This concept was closely conjoined with fighting prowess and intertwined with a quest for positional power, even at the young age of 10. The school-based study highlighted that social constructions of masculinities were reliant on heteronormativity and subordination of femininities (Bartholomaeus, 2013, Mayeza & Bhana, 2020). Consequently, enforcing and sustaining these ideals in the school environment further
forced young boys to embody hegemonic masculine roles. These studies demonstrate that young boys who undertake activities that are perceived as feminine, who are slim-built and actively participate in platonic relations, are stereotyped as feminine, and reported experiencing homophobic violence for being ranked as a subordinate within the hierarchy of masculinities. These dominant discourses around young masculinities in primary school make toxic societal norms and gender expectations more prominent, and support the inclusion of gender, sex, and sexuality education at primary school level.