Wizards remarks on the obsession with etiology of
homosexuality lead me to think of the emerging field
of heterosexual studies. Yes, heterosexuality too is
beginning to have it's social construction as an
identity and etiological roots interrogated just as
that of homosexuality has been. Reccomended reading
of the latest in critical heterosexual
studies--"Thinking Straight: New Work in Critical
Heterosexual Studies".
It is good for those in society with socially dominant
identities to explore the construction of those
identities. Note the impact of critical studies of
the social phenomenon known as "whiteness" on the
understanding of the power of rascism in all our
lives. I think all of us benefit from greater self
understanding achieved by subjecting the identities
ascribed to us or which we claim for our own to
scrutiny and that in turn benefits our understanding
of others who don't share our ascribed and/or claimed
identities.
As far as the bioligical reality of diversity of
gender and sexuality, the newly emerging consensus
among biologist and geneticists is that gender and
sexuality diveristy has been widely overlooked by
earlier biological theorists and even such basics as
evolutionary theory are now being rethought and
reconstructed to remain coherent in light of the
prevalence of gender and sexuality diversity in
nature. Reccomended reading(highly accessible
compelling read)-- biologist Joan Roughgarden's
"Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nature and People".
Much of this all comes down to the issue of "framing"
as presented in the popular political book "Don't
Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the
Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives".
As critical studies of social and cultural identities
lead to further self understanding, understanding of
how such identities constrain all of us, and greater
acceptance and understanding of those different from
ourselves, I'm curious of the place of such critical
identity studies in our public school curricula. Such
studies have generally been limited to the higher
eduation context perhaps in part because the topics
they broach are often seen as politically explosive.
Teaching our young people to understand frames such as
those of social identities in which we live is
critical to enabling them to transcend the limitations
imposed by those frames.
Where do these kind of skills fit in our local schools
curricula?
David Strand
Loring Park
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