Get That Freak: Homophobia and Transphobia in High Schools

by Rebecca Haskell, Brian Burtch

Bullying in schools has garnered significant attention recently, but little has been said about the bullying of homosexuals and transexual students in Canadian high schools. This book fills that gap by exploring the experiences of youth who identify or are identified as "queer." Based on interviews with recent high school graduates in British Columbia, these researchers provide stories of physical, verbal, and emotional harassment in this group and offer insights into the negative outcomes that result from the experience of being bullied. On the other hand, however, these young people were not helpless many learned to rely on resistance, inner strength, and true friends. In the last chapter, the authors make recommendations for handling homophobic and transphobic bullying in high schools and supporting students who experience this form of harassment.

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT

126 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2010

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teaching is essentially an impossible job.

Set aside complaints about class size and curriculum; low pay and insufficient support. All valid, at least in Canada -- but for the purposes of this review -- just...
Okay: a teacher has to impart knowledge (either in process or content). Fine.
That knowledge needs to be imparted, equally, to X number of students -- all of whom learn completely differently, and have wildly varying degrees of motivation.
But to learn at all, a student needs to feel they're in a safe space.
So: a teacher also has to manage all these disparate students' behaviour. She has to keep track of every comment, every eye roll, every sleight, every interaction, in order to catch it before it goes too far. Most of it isn't obvious; most of it will never be caught. But if you let it slide, you are party to creating an unsafe space.
And a teacher has to get along with their students. Every student. Because it's not about you, and it's not about if you're having a bad day -- you're being paid to support every. single. one. of these kids. Even the ones who, if you encountered them otherwise, you'd find absolutely appalling. But if you DON'T treat ALL the kids EQUALLY and WELL and SUPPORT THEM ALL -- well, what are you doing? Why can't you handle them? Maybe you should just leave the profession, maybe you're not cut out for this, maybe you don't have "it" -- that mystical quality I'm starting to think literally no teacher has.
And oh, while you're trying to keep track of all these hormonal chaos balls, keep the quiet ones safe and the angry ones placated -- can you make sure they learn? No, can they learn better though? Thanks.

Some days, I come home from work and just stare at the wall.


But I hate whining. And some of my students this year are undeniably cruel. So I'm delving into some professional development material in hopes of getting...something. Tips. Reassurance. Something.

I got a little bit of both, from this book -- which is a study summary, done in British Columbia, of university-aged queer people reflecting on their experiences. Seriously useful as a primer for anyone in the pre-Tumblr generation. But unfortunately, the message can be boiled down to this:
Bullying is the actual worst -- but unless we change the school system from the top down, nothing is going to change.
Once again -- teachers are left with virtually no power, and virtually all of the facetime -- and therefore, the blame.

The argument Haskell's making, essentially, is that ignorance breeds phobias -- so if we normalize conversations about sexuality & gender, we create a better space for the bullying behaviour to be addressed. Fine. I feel I do that, whenever possible, in my classroom. But that's where she leaves it, and I'd love to be critical and whine about what are the practical applications but honestly -- I can't. Because I've been racking my brains trying to think about them, trying to find ways to truly affect kids who bully, and I'm coming up blank.

Teachers aren't stupid. Well, most of us aren't. Kids look at us after ruining someone's day, week, month, and put on charismatic eyes, and apologize. And they're lying. They're flatout lying. But because there's so little recourse after the fact, because home supports it or admin doesn't care...what happens next?

This is more rant than review, and I don't care. I'm so tired of grasping for actual strategies and coming up with "just be sure to support those who need it!!!" I do. It's not enough. And I hate that; I hate feeling powerless when there are wonderful, magic little people in front of me who are hurting. I fucking hate it.

So I guess -- to use this space in a productive way -- if anyone has any PRACTICAL, realistic resources on bullying (particularly insidious bullying) please pass them along.

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an academic publication of a study involving 32 gay, lesbian and trans teenagers in Canada.