Ask, Tell, Talk Back: Queering Resistance to Gendered Heteronormativity

Abstract

Sexuality is a form of power (Foucault 1990) and an organizing principle of social life. Although sexuality is usually thought of in terms of individual practices and identities, sexualized meanings and sexual boundaries are produced and enforced at institutional levels (Epstein 1994; Gamson and Moon 2004) and vary across, race, class, gender, ability, location, as well as institutional type. One of the most important institutions in the production of sexualities, especially in regard to youth, is education. School rituals, curriculum, policies, and organizational structure affirm and reinforce gendered and sexual norms. For example, as illustrated in the previous chapter, hegemonic masculinity is constructed at the MEI through the acceptance of violence and warrior hero archetype. Both Black boys and girls who attempt to capitalize on the advantages of hegemonic masculinity are sanctioned. Thus, the enactment of militarized hegemonic masculinity (particularly through acts of violence) is really only available to White boys. However, just as schools are sites of production, they are also sites of resistance illustrated by the girlie-girls who actively resist hegemonic masculinity at the MEI through uniform violations, slowing of physical training exercises, and by making conscious mistakes during drill practice. I continue along this vein in this chapter. By extending the explanatory power of resistance theory, I argue that the MEI itself is a queerly “contested space” in which gendered and heteronormative practices and identities are not only confirmed but also actively resisted by cadets at the MEI.