Exploring Social Connectivity through the Use of Adolescent Queer Literature

1. Exploring Social Connectivity through the Use of Adolescent Queer Literature Dr. Dwight C. Watson University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

2. Cycles of Rejuvenation The belief that every few years a typical heterosexual person had an opportunity to rejuvenate, i.e., high school, entry into college, graduation from college, marriage, purchase of a home, children, grandchildren. At each of these stages of heterosexual maturation, there is a level of rejuvenation in which the heterosexual has an opportunity to socially reinvent his or herself. Patterns can be replicated by gays and lesbians, but the blueprint is still hetero-normative.

3. Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development Erikson’s model is based on heterosexual models that help adolescents discern between their own beliefs and those of others. Educators who subscribe to this developmental model may not recognize the hetero-normative elements of their teaching will not enhance the maturation of their gay and lesbian students. — Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.

4. Marcia’s States of Identity James Marcia (1980) took issue that the dichotomy of identity confusion and identity resolution was too simplistic to describe the actual process of achieving identity. Age bracket: 18-22 In order to secure a true identity, a person must go through an identity crisis: a situation where people are forced to not only question what they believe about themselves, but provide answers as well. In gay and lesbian adolescent development, this crisis may be the sate of questioning and ambivalence that they experience as they wrestle with their identity. — Marcia, J. E. (1980). Identity in adolescence. In J. Adelson (ed.), Handbook of Adolescent Psychiatry. New York: Wiley.

5. Cass’ Stages of Gay and LesbianIdentity Development Vivienne Cass (1984) disassociated her theory from the heterosexual standards of previous models of adolescent behavior. Gay/Lesbian identity requires a six-stage process of recognizing, accepting and affirming one’s sexual orientation. — Cass, V.C. (1984). Homosexual identity formation: testing a theoretical model. The Journal of SexResearch, 20 (2), 143-167.

6. D’Augelli’s Steps of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Identity Formation D'Augelli (1994) presented a lifespan model of lesbian, gay, and bisexual identity development based on his social constructionistview of sexual orientation. The model uses steps instead of stages, indicating an individual’s ability to go back and forth between steps. — D’Augelli, A. R. (1994). Identity development and sexual orientation: Toward a model of lesbian, gay, and bisexual development. In E. J. Trickett, R. J. Watts, and D. Birman (eds.), Human diversity: Perspectives on people in context. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

7. Intimacy vs. Isolation All models stress the importance of securing an identity in the process of psychosocial development. Once appropriate identities have been forged, adolescents of all varieties will face the effects of Erikson’s next stage: intimacy vs. identity. For heterosexuals, numerous guideposts and role models exist that demonstrate methods of approaching and achieving these measures. The media pushes a constant stream of movies, television series, advertisements, music and literature that show straight couples in all the various stages of their relationships. Where can homosexuals find this kind of encouragement and support? From whom are they supposed to glean expectations about how to go about building and maintaining any of their relationships in a world where, if these issues are being talked about at all, are usually expressed in a derogatory manner?

8. Social Isolation and Barriers to Connectivity Social isolation of gay and lesbian youth is described as cognitive, emotional and social. Cognitive isolation is based on limited knowledge about or access to accurate information on sexual orientation. Emotional isolation is the affect of homophobia in the form of negative messages from family, peers, school personnel, and community members. Social isolation is created from the feelings generated from emotional isolation. Socially isolated gay and lesbian youth withdraw and lose confidence in their ability to socially interact with peers. — Hetrick, E., & Martin, D. (1987). Developmental issues and the irresolution for gay and lesbian adolescents. Journal of Homosexuality, 14, 13-24.

9. Support Systems to OffsetInternalized Homophobia Emotional Family and peers show love, trust, caring, and other affective behaviors regardless of their understanding about sexual identity. Instrumental The provision of basic needs and the assurance that these needs will not be restricted in any way due to sexuality. Informational Gay and lesbian youth have access and opportunity to obtain information about their sexual identity. Appraisal Positive feedback or affirmation by family and friends that encourages and supports the ascribed sexual orientation. Though parents may provide one or more of these support systems, sometimes gay and lesbian youth must look outside of the family for the support systems that are lacking at home. — Munoz-Plaza, C., Quinn, S. C., & Rounds, K. A. (2002). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students: Perceived social support in the high school environment. High School Journal, 85, 52-64.

10. The Literature Circle Literature circles have been used to engage students in reading, discussion, and literary critique. Focus: Literature circle groups around queer adolescent literature involving high school students from the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA). Literature circle roles: Discussion Director – guides the discussion Passage Master – chooses a passage to showcase Word Wizard – highlights and defines interesting words Travel Tracer – maps the main character’s geographical movements Illustrator – creates a visual image of some aspect of the reading Connector – makes personal reflections or current events connections with the text Investigator – discovers additional information about the text and/or author — Daniels, H. (2002). Literature circles: voice and choice in book clubs and reading groups (2d edition).Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

11. Establish a list… Five books were chosen: Luna (Peters, 2004) Flip Side(Matthew, 2003) Geography Club(Hartinger, 2003) Rainbow Boys (Sanchez, 2001) Keeping Her a Secret(Peters, 2003) Collectively, these books dealt with critical adolescent gay issues of social isolation, drug usage, parental misunderstanding, transgender acceptance, cross dressing, bisexuality, lesbianism, and questioning ambiguity. The books also showed GLBT students as precocious, innovated, determined, scholarly, connected, athletic, courageous, and resilient. The issues and attributes were discussed and it was determined that we wanted to be intentional about the positive aspects of queerness that resonated in these books even though the critical issues were pretty pervasive.

12. Creating the Circle Schedule meetings with each of the high schools and their GSA. Discuss the university as an open and affirming institution, share programs about queer campus life, provide a book talk about each of the five selected books. Give parent letters and permission slips so that parents would give approval to be a part of the reading group. For those students reluctant to share their sexual preferences with their parents, books are put in the library on reserve and students can check them out on their own and read the book of their choice independently of the group, but still discuss the issues collectively with the GSA meetings. GOAL: Book groups to act as agents for social engagement!

13. The Circle • Thirty participants: • 18 Females • 12 Males • Social Sub-Groups: • Goth • Basketball • Independents • Meetings: • Four consecutive weeks across a month • Divide the book into four equal parts • Role assignments helped facilitate discussion, though during the third week, the roles were deemed too school-like and were eliminated. • Participants mainly discussed the major events and made connections to their lives.

14. Pre-Literature Circle Group Observations • Participants seemed to say in their individual spaces. • Participants were from all the GSA’s across the districts and did not know each other. • Participants had no experiences. They did not know how to converse, flirt, court or date; therefore, they remained silent.

15. During Literature Circle Observations • Participants spoke boldly about their own personal lives. • Conjectured on how isolated a person may feel if he or she had feelings of gender ambiguity or fluidity. • Discussed their own limitations when it came to affectional expression and how difficult it was to have a relationship. • Identified and made connections with multiple characters and high school groups, i.e., outcasts, jocks, and intellectuals. This discourse showed that literature circle groups were powerful and engaging. It also demonstrated how the students situated themselves in school culture. Most participants seemed to be in Cass’ stages of identity tolerance and identity acceptance.

16. Post-Literature Circle Observations • Cross-fraternization between groups as participants began to interact across shared interests that were disclosed during the literature circle groups. • More casual interactions amongst the adolescents. • An increase of confidence in their abilities to interact because they had a shared experience that acted as a catalyst to connectivity. In the end, this program did not necessarily move the participants toward social intimacy in which the participants felt comfortable to flirt, court, or publically display affection, but it was a start when it came to offsetting social isolation.

17. Lessons Learned • A collaborative partnership between the university and the school • district was essential to the success of the program. • Existing structures such as the college-based GLBT organization, • Spectrum; the high school-based GSAs, and the cross-district gathering, • the Broom Closet made the program easier to establish. • The college students were instrumental because the adolescent gay and lesbian participants viewed them as coping models. Suggestions • As parents, educators, counselors, youth directors, and concerned community members, we should be cognizant of the social isolation that exists among gay and lesbian adolescents so that we can effectively support them on their journey through adolescent psychosocial development. • Future program organizers should be more intentional about how the literature circles model transforms the participants. • I would encourage parents, teachers, counselors, mentors, and other people who interact with and support GLBT adolescents to read adolescent queer literature.

18. Discussion Regarding the Embedding of GLBT Issues in Teacher Education Programs