Reading the Room : Lessons on Pedagogy and Curriculum from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Classroom

First-hand experiences from gender and sexuality studies classrooms that add depth to a topic often distorted by the media.

The contemporary post-secondary classroom has become a flashpoint in public debate on gender and sexuality, with controversy over gender-inclusive policies, "trigger warnings," and "cancel culture" that have been misrepresented by opportunistic and divisive voices within and outside of the education sector. However, gender and sexuality studies scholars have long engaged in these debates over pedagogy. Closer study of gender and sexuality classroom practices reveals constructive and transformative ways of learning that grapple with power, conflict, discomfort, and safety in the classroom. 

Reading the Room collects candid discussions of classroom experiences from instructors and students throughout Canada to guide educators on often-fraught issues relating to gender, sexuality, race, class, disability, and decolonization. Working from a place of coalition building, this volume is a frank, insightful, and pragmatic invitation to share different pedagogical practices with educators in a range of academic disciplines.
Contributors to this volume discuss an array of topics including asymmetrical power relations between students and teachers, how students and professors learn from each other, how to negotiate conflict in a classroom, and how to be self-reflective about methods of teaching and learning. They also consider debates around trigger warnings and students’ expectations, discuss methods for curriculum selection and pedagogical practices, reflect on what it is like to embody the subjects that they teach, and show how university equity, diversity, and inclusion work is often offloaded to overburdened racialized students and precariously employed staff.

A thoughtful and generous work, Reading the Room shows how teachers and students can navigate the difficulty and discomfort of contentious topics and learn more from each other.

Natalie Kouri-Towe is associate professor of feminism and sexuality at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University.