As digital expression swells, human beings globally are able to engage in copious amounts of discourse about identity, sexuality and relationships.
One could even argue that in the last twenty to thirty years, the access to digital information has created a new shape for how people interact with identity, sexuality and their relationships.
The social digital world is intense and fast-paced – a place where ideas are generated in split seconds. Perhaps, this has aided in the idea of progressiveness and what that should look like and feel like in today’s modern-day age.
However, this seems to be in direct conflict with the actual state of things in everyday life. An immense display of this is within the scope of global education in relation to teachings centred around sexuality.
Scotland is the first and only country in the world to introduce an LGBTQ+ curriculum consisting of histories of queerness, queer identities and queer people, an implementation that only happened in 2020. This staggering statistic is supplemented when one watches a video like this: watch here.
This video is just but a glimpse into the way people handle and think about queer identities. Why is the sexuality of a person being compared to an action in which someone deeply betrays their significant other/s? Why do some of the people in the video signify their inability to handle the possibility of their assumed masc partners being bisexual?
There seems to be streams of misinformation in various bubbles of our society around queerness, and in this case, bisexuality – which amplifies homophobic and sexist notions. The repulsion around their masc partners distancing themselves from ‘masculinity’, a societal and patriarchal based idea around masculinity that is.
It is insightful and speaks volumes about what we – as a general society – are teaching. The video caused a large discussion around how bisexuality is mishandled and used as a scapegoat to perpetuate deep-rooted discomfort in people.
Though these discussions were happening on Twitter, It was a stark reminder that in everyday life people are usually thinking the same way as the individuals that took part in the video. It is a reminder that the progressiveness in those retaliations usually exists in an echo chamber online. It is not even a thought that is truly practiced systemically.
When we are young, we are encouraged to make sense of the world through our caregivers and mainly through education. For a period of years, we are taught about various topics including sex education which in most countries is less than proficient and not as comprehensible as it should be.
In South Africa, only 5% of schools teach sex education to their pupils – that is dire. Additionally, the lack of these subjects in schools becomes common when the reality sets in that many areas of the world are financially unable to afford that as an additional.
The capitalist system is whole with poverty and an inability to get rid of that adds to the frustration surrounding this obstacle. As students should be informed about sex and sexual health for the ability to be competent about themselves, their bodies and the safety of themselves and others. The same goes for education around LGBTQ+ discourse and histories. People should be able to find other spaces besides social media or interpersonal relationships to learn about these topics.
Perhaps, this could result in a world where people don’t compare bisexuality to something as distant of a concept as cheating. The two topics are not even in the same realm. Knowledge is power and the cut off from that information is doing such a disservice to communities around the world.
Homophobia has also created a world where the powers that be are blatant with their refusal of any type of learnings about LGBTQ+ politics, discourse or histories. Creating dangerous situations such as the state of Florida in the United States, proposing the “don’t say gay” bill. This bill would see that schools in Florida are not permitted to speak about queerness at all.
We as members of this society should not fall trap of only challenging homophobic notions online but within our systems and institutions of education too, as these are the larger pillars of our society. There are a lot of groups championing this change, however, assistance is always needed. The more people who are educationally aware of this topic – with nuance and critical insight – the more space and ability there is for empowerment.
Find out more about queer educational resources in South Africa here:
