“To Author Herself as Someone Empowered”: Historical Print Cultures as a Model of Public Education for Queer Women and Girls

Abstract

This thesis proposes a set of guidelines for best practices regarding the language arts education of queer girls, built from a theoretical, historical, and analytical basis. This work draws from the theories surrounding gender and sexual orientation discrimination, such as intersectionality, heteronormativity, and social justice education. I argue for the use of historical lesbian-feminist print cultures as a model for positive queer girl literacy, including a case study of Ann Arbor’s Leaping Lesbian journal (1977-1980). An analysis of popular middle grades novels reveals and disrupts the heteronormative and patriarchal narratives within them. Based on this background, Chapter 5 contains guidelines for classroom teachers wishing to improve their practices and to have a positive impact on queer girls in middle grades language arts classes.