Issue 25(1)

Addressing Homophobia and Heterosexism on College Campuses. (2003). Elizabeth P Cramer. Haworth. 274 pp., $24.95 (paperback). ISBN 1-56023-305-2.

Review by: Norris Manning

School of Business

Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville

Depending on the campus, the environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people ranges from ambivalence to hostility. Educational and administrative efforts to overturn the ambivalence and to combat the hostility are manifest in classroom discussions, lectures, and administrative statements of nondiscrimination.

Addressing Homophobia and Heterosexism on College Campuses is a compilation of research findings and techniques presented in five topical sections. Each section is offered for a unique purpose, but taken as a whole, the book will generate ideas that can ensure that GLBT students do not meet with hostility but rather are welcomed into a receptive and informed environment. Chapter authors provide the reader with research that can be used as the basis for exploring homophobia and heterosexism on campus. The resulting discussion includes implications and strategies that can be used to improve the campus climate for GLBT persons.

A very short list of feature films and documentaries that also address the topics covered in this book is included. However, the reader should be aware that more are available including some very good programs from major commercial networks, public television, and independent cable networks.

Advisors will be interested in the discussion of client and practitioner homophobia and heterosexism in professional training programs, such as those in mental health, counseling therapy, and social work. Also of interest are student population attitude assessments as well as research and strategies tailored to the ethical tenets and objectives of practice.

By far, the Pedagogy and Classroom Interventions section is the most helpful. The authors of articles contained therein provide practical strategies that can be implemented in almost any classroom regardless of academic discipline or level. Of particular interest is the final article, Teaching the Teachers: Confronting Homophobia and Heterosexism in Teacher Education Programs, by Anne Zavalkoff. The author presented a "conceptual tool designed to help teacher education students think critically about the roots and consequences of personal, parental, community, and institutional resistance to diverse sexual identities and behaviours (sic)" (p. 243). The tool, "The Continuum of (Subversive) Drag Performance," is designed to assist students in understanding the social construct of sexuality and the norms that sexualities often violate. The Continuum is used as a framework in which to discuss social injustice and expectations of genders. This is a fascinating concept that Zavalkoff admittedly could not fully discuss in the allotted space.

Overall, Cramer has compiled a valuable work helpful to faculty, academic advisors, and administrators interested in improving the environment for GLBT students and assisting non-GLBT students in understanding heterosexism and the oppression that often stems from it.