"Some University Lecturers Wear Gay Pride T-shirts. Get Over It!": Denials of Homophobia and the Reproduction of Heteronormativity in Responses to a Gay-Themed T-shirt. Issue 5 (16th April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Clarke, Victoria
• Is Part Of: Journal of homosexuality. Volume 66:Issue 5(2019)
• Page Start: 690
• Page End: 714
• Publication Date: 2019-04-16
• Subjects: Compulsory heterosexuality -- discourse analysis -- heteronormativity -- homosexuality -- neoliberalism -- modern prejudice -- psychology students -- qualitative surveys -- thematic analysis; Homosexuality -- Periodicals; 306.766
• DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2017.1423217
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0091-8369

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article explores an incident involving a gay pride T-shirt, printed with the slogan "Some people are gay. Get over it!, " that I wore during a university lecture, and students' predominantly negative responses to it. I use the lens of modern prejudice research, particularly discursive psychological approaches to modern prejudice, to interpret the students' responses to a qualitative survey about their views on the T-shirt. They related strong feelings of upset and anger, particularly because I had—in their view—implicitly accused them of being homophobic. They passionately refused this supposed accusation on the grounds that "everything's equal now" and "gay people are no different from us." I argue that the ideological themes of cultural heterosexism and compulsory heterosexuality provide a productive framework for making sense of the students' responses, as they sanction a rational neoliberal subject who is both non-homophobic and inculcated into heteronormativity.