-
8. Foundations of Queer Voice: Silence and Support in Schools, Communities, Families, and Society
- Temple University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Foundations of Queer Voice Silence and Support in Schools, Communities, Families, and Society T he young adults and adolescents profiled in this book are survivors of trauma. Much of what took place in their homes, schools, and communities —including incessant harassment; attempts to convert them from homosexuality; and verbal, physical, and sexual abuse—can be considered nothing less. These are traumas specifically associated with growing up in a society that is homophobic and transphobic—that is, in which the fear-based marginalization of, discrimination against, and even contempt for LGBTQ people is in many ways still socially sanctioned.1 Psychologist Annie G. Rogers (2006), drawing on her work with children and adolescents who have survived trauma, describes how the experience is often shrouded in silence and communicated “in code” through actions and other forms of communication that express “the unsayable.” Expanding on Freud’s theories related to the nature of trauma, Rogers writes: Experience becomes traumatic through a demand on us, which by its nature is in excess of what we can manage or bear . . . the excess that defines trauma is an inability to say what is happening at the time, and later to say what has happened in any fully accurate or complete way. (2006, 262) 1. The definitions of homophobic and transphobic suggested here represent my own understanding and synthesis of these terms based on my research, teaching, and advocacy work and may also apply to the less frequently used word queerphobic. 8 154 Chapter 8 Participants in this research discussed a variety of “codes” through which they communicated to others (consciously or unconsciously) about the unsayable traumas they experienced—cutting, fighting, suicide attempts, disordered eating behaviors, dropping out of school. Even among those few who did not report having experienced excessive harassment or abuse, we hear accounts of isolation, dissociation from the self, and separation from relationships that can be viewed in and of themselves as traumatic. As Carol Gilligan (2002) has noted, voices particularly carry the mark of trauma when authentic feelings and experiences deemed culturally risky or unacceptable (in this case, those related to being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender , or queer) are kept out of a person’s relationships and a more culturally sanctioned voice couched in silence and “code” comes to the foreground.2 As statistics and news stories periodically remind us, not all LGBTQ youth survive the traumas brought on by homophobia and transphobia, and the means through which they communicate their distress too often end in tragedy. We are therefore extremely fortunate that David, Lindsey, Ruth, Travis, Jordan, Eddie, Clark, Jason, Jessie, Kate, Kim, and Phil all found a language in which to tell their stories and places and relationships in which they could be heard. For the six participants whose stories we are able to follow into adulthood, we hear nascent queer voices—all silenced in various ways in adolescence—develop into voices distinguished by qualities such as progressive resistance (David), service (Lindsey), intellect (Ruth), contentment (Travis), self-acceptance (Jordan), and global citizenship (Eddie). Although there are clearly many more facets to these young people’s lives than this list would suggest—including the stresses and challenges each of them continues to face—retracing their paths from silenced adolescence even to this limited set of qualities, to which all young adults might aspire, can teach us a great deal. In the introduction to this book, I acknowledged, as all researchers are necessarily taught to do, the limitations of this study. The accounts of the relatively small number of people who took part in this research can in no way fully represent the myriad ways young queer voices are supported and silenced in schools, communities, families, and our society at large. Other important issues, including but certainly not limited to those facing many LGBTQ youth of color, immigrant LGBTQ youth, LGBTQ youth living 2. In The Birth of Pleasure, Carol Gilligan argues that boys’ and girls’ initiation into what it means to be men and women in a patriarchal culture results in an experience “that is akin to trauma in that a voice is seemingly lost or confused with another voice that finds more cultural resonance and thus carries more authority” (2002, 223). [3.237.5.1] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 11:09 GMT) Foundations of Queer Voice 155 in extreme poverty or extreme wealth, homeless LGBTQ youth, and others based on individual circumstances, have important influences on the development of queer voices within specific contexts. In a sense the participants...