Language and sexuality in education

Language use mediates knowledge of sexuality, a fact that leads to important questions about the “putting into words” of sex and sexuality in educational contexts. In the broader institutional environment of “school,” language plays a key role in the narrowly gendered construction of heterosexualities and the problematic othering of non-normative sexualities. In sexuality education classes (i.e., classes where sexuality enjoys a sustained pedagogical focus), the same themes arise, but it is through talk that students begin to come to terms with their own identities as sexual subjects in control of their desires. Talk plays a similarly important role during the learning of additional languages, for sexuality cannot be separated from the formation of identities in the new language. Through inquiry into cultural discourses around sexuality, learners can acquire an understanding of socio-sexual literacy in a target culture. Sexual desires and identities can also be closely tied to language learning investments and motivations, thereby influencing success or failure with language learning as well as specific learning pathways.