As homework, students were tasked with identifying and explaining in writing another example of heteronormativity they encoun-tered that day. When the students returned to class, they were surprised and generally indignant about their dis-coveries, responses similar to those they’d had while looking at the advertisements. One student talked about the heteronormative organization of the chil-dren’s clothing section at Target. Another furiously waved her phone where she had saved an article from social media that listed TV shows recommended for “girls.” A third student was up in arms about another teacher’s heteronormative comments about middle school students’ interests
I'm glad that this was brought up as a homework assignment because once you are aware of WHAT heteronormativity is, you see it everywhere. I like how the third student talked about how another teacher's behaviors/comments were listed as an example of "gendering" or pushing heteronormativity when it comes to students' interests. It kind of hits close to home where I'm from in southern West Virginia because there have been some teacher comments that are questionable, especially if a dude says that they are not a fan of sports. It also reminds me how a lot of dudes don't know how to cook - and I personally know guys who have told me this - because it was taught to them that cooking was something that women did, not men. That was not taught in my family, so I thought it was so odd