Re-thinking sexual identity, toward an out-siders' praxis: An educator's re-vision of Virginia Woolf's

Abstract

Responding to wide-spread abuse of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning persons (LGBTQs) in education, this dissertation examines theories of heterosexism, conceptualizing as mis-educative compulsory heterosexuality's stigmatization of "out" LGBTQs as outsiders. Reflecting upon the Outsiders' Society Virginia Woolf envisioned in Three Guineas (1938) for daughters of educated men, I re-name and re-conceive as Out-Siders those people who "side" with the "out" in order to mitigate compulsory heterosexuality's mis-educative effects. Examining how Out-Siders already bring theory and action to bear on sexual identity, I name and explicate six Praxes in re Sexual Identity: Praxis of the Closet, ignoring/denigrating non-heterosexuality; Praxis of Inclusion, advocating LGBTQs' equal rights; Praxis of Coming Out, utilizing identity politics; Praxis of Location, claiming composite identities; Praxis of Refusal, eschewing learned/scientific discourse's normative labels; Praxis of Performativity, "queering discourse" by de-centering naturalized/normative/prescriptive gender roles.

To challenge theoretical and practical weaknesses of these praxes , I adopt Woolf's approach in Three Guineas, interpreted through Lorraine Code's feminist epistemological lens (1991) and Foucault's ethical inquiry (1984). Thus I utilize published autobiographical and qualitative-research narratives of LGBTQs' experiences in schooling and higher education to test the practicality of each praxis (Casper and Schultz, 1999; Harbeck, 1991; Howard and Stevens, 2000; Jennings, 1994; Khayatt, 1992; Kissen, 1996; Letts and Sears, 1999; McNaron, 1997; Sears and Williams, 1997; Woog, 1995). This problematization prompts my construction of Out-Siders' Praxis, which is dependent upon four conceptual tools that I formulate and name: Out-citing, premised upon Iris Marion Young's series-group concept embedded into Out-Siders' goals (Young, 1997); Out-sighting, evidencing wide-awakeness to injustice and watchfulness toward hidden curriculum; Out-siding, friendship supporting creative/passionate thought/action; and Out-siting, positioning in webs of power relations.

The significance of this proposed Out-Siders' Praxis lies in its educative resistance against cynicism and powerlessness that silence oppressed voices and in its theoretical soundness as a guide for developing curricula that Out-Siders can teach, to transform objectionable practices/environments. As my re-vision of Woolf's Outsiders' Society, this conception of Out-Siders' Praxis affirms Woolf's ethical values of promoting liberty, endorsing adventurous experimentation, creating opportunities for discourse across difference, inventing and intervening with the attitude of artists.