A new collection that addresses the problematic pathologization of queer youth, this book argues that the majority of educators and youth workers still know little about queer youth's negotiations of identity and community. The contributors examine the dangerous effects of heteronormalizing practices, and look at how young people negotiate labels and stereotypes in and out of school settings. What makes this project unique is that the contributors go beyond the discussions of homophobia young people experience on an everyday basis - the look at how youth subvert these experiences into those of pleasure, power, and confidence. In addition, the contributors look at how youth organize communities and negotiate positive identities in different settings.

International collection of contributors who are all well known in the field

Introduction: Transforming Discourses of Queer Youth and Educational Practices Surrounding Gender, Sexuality, and Youth; S.Talburt, E.Rofes & M.L.Rasmussen PART I: RETHINKING ADULTS AND YOUTH Intelligibility and Narrating Queer Youth; S.Talburt Martyr, Target, Victim: Interrogating Narratives of Persecution and Suffering among Queer Youth; E.Rofes The Historical Regulation of Sexuality and Gender of Students and Teachers: An Intertwined Legacy; J.M.Blount & S.Anahita Subject to Scrutiny: Taking Foucauldian Genealogies to Narratives of Youth Oppression; V.Harwood Between Sexuality and Narrative: On the Language of Sex Education; J.Gilbert PART II: RETHINKING YOUTH PRACTICES Safety and Subversion: The Production of Sexualities and Genders in School Spaces; M.L.Rasmussen Scout's Honor: Duty, Citizenship, and the Homoerotic in the BSA; A.Coleman, M.Ehrenworth , & N.Lesko Agency in Borderland Discourses: Engaging in Gaybonics for Pleasure, Subversion, and Retaliation; M.V.Blackburn Bent as a Ballet Dancer: The Possibilities for and Limits of Legitimate Homo-masculinity in School; D.Youdell Melancholy and the Productive Negotiations of Power in Sissy Boy Experience; D.McInnes