This article discusses the contributions to this special issue within the context of the current turn to right-wing authoritarianism across much of the world and the dangers this presupposes for addressing gender and sexual diversity in second language education. The article focuses on four main topics arising from the globally diverse contributions appearing in the issue: (a) the current robustness and methodological sophistication of the field of language teaching materials analysis; (b) the way in which, despite decades of scholarly critique, the representation of gender and sexual diversity remains problematic for educational publishers and materials writers; (c) the pitfalls of limited “progress” in textbook representational repertoires, specifically the incursions of the discourse of neoliberal feminism; and (d) the extent of work still to be done in terms of the treatment of gender and sexual diversity in actual classrooms and the role that materials might play. The article concludes with a short discussion of the concept of “educated hope” as essential in the present moment for those who are committed to progressive education while also bearing in mind the need for what might be called “pedagogic humility”; namely, a strategically deferred acceptance of limitation, an understanding of context, and a concern for safety.

This study investigates the process of the production of a local English language teaching textbook series in Uruguay. Drawing on ethnographic approaches to critical discourse analysis, the study examines how the sexuality of a male character–initially conceived as openly gay–becomes semiotically regulated at different stages of textbook production, so that his (sexual) identity is managed, controlled, and backgrounded. In addition to the textbooks themselves, data come from observations of authors' meetings, focus groups, and individual interviews with textbook authors. The analysis identifies four main strategies through which (homo)sexuality becomes watered down. The findings confirm the complex politics of inclusion of sexual diversity in textbooks, and show how heteronormative ideology and the heterosexual gaze permeate the representation of (homo)sexuality. The findings also shed new light on the complex and tangled processes of textbook production.

Gender and sexual diversity in language education in general and in educational media in particular continues to be a vibrant field of research. Studies thus far have focused on gender representations in and around educational media, and, more recently, on their intersections with parameters such as sexuality, ethnicity, and class. This special issue of Gender and Language links this research field with theoretically and methodologically innovative research on the meaning, production, and usage of gender and sexuality in educational media in diverse geopolitical contexts. These range from Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria to the Netherlands and Belgium. Though this issue mainly addresses gender and sexuality in formal second and/or foreign language educational contexts, it also features contributions on educational media involving both second language learners and native mono- or multilingual speakers.

Adopting a social constructionist perspective, this article explores the localization of the cultural content of global ELT textbooks from a critical gender perspective that foregrounds the role of the market in the production of gender identities in educational media. It compares constructions of gendered identities in ELT textbooks for adult learners in Saudi Arabia before and after the country's 2016 economic shakeup. Localization in pre-2016 rentier Saudi Arabia meant, broadly, resisting the neoliberal discourses that mediated gendered representations in the textbooks. This study explores how post-2016 localization processes responded to pro-neoliberal discourses and women's empowerment initiatives embedded in the economic shakeup. The findings confirm a shift in the outcomes of textbook localization processes, with growing acceptance of globalized neoliberal discourses on gender, indexing larger shifts in discourses of gender in the local context.

In this farewell essay, the coeditors of Gender and Language reflect on leading the journal through a 6-year period marked by escalating global crises and rising hostility toward feminist, queer, and trans scholarship. Drawing from their previous Editorials on refusal, hope, and potency, the coeditors explore yet another affect that animated their tenure: stubbornness. This essay suggests that stubbornness, as more than mere obstinacy, must be reclaimed within a transqueerfeminist ethics as a rebellious insistence on caring, persisting, and imagining otherwise. From this perspective, stubbornness is uniquely suited to counter the political numbness of what Heyes terms “anaesthetic time.” Everyday editorial labor is presented as a microactivist gesture of concern that can sustain the language, gender, and sexuality community amid global turmoil.

Textbook authors are pivotal in shaping discourses about ethnic, gender, and sexual diversity in second or foreign language education. Yet, language textbook authors have hardly been examined, let alone their perspectives on diversity. We therefore interviewed 10 authors of Dutch language textbooks and interpreted their responses within three ethnic diversity models: assimilation, hierarchy, and pluralism. Views on gender and sexual diversity were analyzed, including perceived hindrances around representing diversity in textbook production. Authors supported pluralism but simultaneously made hierarchical statements that favored white ethnic majority perspectives. The inclusion of gender diversity was considered important, whereas the inclusion of sexual diversity was viewed as problematic. Interviewees reported obstacles in representing diversity through a perceived necessity to comply with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), licenses with picture databases, and limited budgets. We discuss how the results of this study relate to theory and policies and consider how authors could address barriers to match textbook content with their views on diversity.

Gender, language, and education studies have highlighted gender insensitivity and provided frameworks for progressive textbooks. However, studies into teachers and learners’ perceptions of gender and classroom practices appear scanty in Sub-Saharan Africa. This investigation attempts to address this gap through examining English as a Second Language (ESL) classes in Nigerian primary and secondary schools. Recordings from 3 teachers and 58 learners’ classroom interactions in 3 lessons, 18 student essays, and interviews with teachers were analyzed using two analytical approaches. Analysis revealed that the girls showed more gender awareness and negotiated their takeaway from textbooks, whereas the boys aligned with “normal” renderings of their gender identity. The teachers favored gender-equality ideology, and their classroom practices suggested that they subverted insensitive gender portrayals in textbooks in different ways. These findings stress that learners and teachers are active users engaging with gender portrayals in textbooks. They negotiate what to take from texts in consonance with their gender ideologies.

This article examines current uses of gender-neutral and inclusive language in the Spanish-speaking world to determine how gender-diverse speakers describe themselves and others within the binary grammatical gender system of Spanish. The linguistic data were collected through an anonymous online survey distributed to 141 LGBTQ2S+ organizations based in Spanish-speaking countries. The survey was completed by 132 participants who self-identified as agender, demiboy, demigirl, gender fluid, gender queer, nonbinary, or transgender. The findings confirm that neopronouns and neomorphemes are highly used and accepted by this population, with certain ones preferred over others depending on the medium of usage. Uniform agreement with matching morphemes is more accepted than mixed agreement with nonmatching morphemes. This study has implications for teachers and learners of Spanish in terms of acceptability and usage of gender-neutral language in various gender nonbinary Spanish-speaking communities.