Review of RSGS by Yvonne El Ashmawl

 for Kappa Delta Pi Record

Reviewed by Yvonne El Ashmawl

    Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality is a great new resource for educators about these important and timely topics.  The text opens with a beautiful series of questions that invites the reader to imagine what is

possible. The editors encourage readers to consider, “What if all groups marginalized by our history books—including women and LGBTQ people—were central to the content we teach and learn?  What if age-appropriate, supportive discussions of sexuality were welcome across grade levels and subject areas?”

(Sokolower, p. 12).

    The challenge for educators in the field is that there are obstacles to creating spaces wherein such things are possible. In fact, the editors explicitly state that curriculum and pedagogy that seek to redress sexism, gender bias, and homophobia can be—and often are—dangerous. The editors caution readers:  It’s critical to break the silences, but please do it in a way that works for you, given your own history, experience, and school situation. . . . A unit that will be welcomed and supported in one school could get you fired at another. (Sokolower, p. 14)

    This warning is consequential; schools often face community pushback when they attempt to address these issues in the classroom, and teachers across the country have been fired for teaching about gender, sex, and sexuality. The fact that this warning needs to be issued is precisely why this book is so necessary. Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality speaks to both the risks and the opportunity by offering inspiring and concrete suggestions about what is working in schools and classrooms. The first chapter of the book addresses the need for continuing work around issues of gender, sex, and sexuality; the subsequent chapters, including a very moving chapter about teachers coming out in schools, offer ideas and models of curriculum and

pedagogy for both K–12 classrooms and teacher education.

    One book cannot fully address such rich, and richly nuanced, topics because the issues of sexism, gender,

and sexuality, while interconnected, are also distinct topics; thus, each chapter of the book could be expanded into its own book(s). However, as a teacher educator, I found the book to be a warm invitation to delve deeper into these topics for myself. I also found more than a few teaching ideas I’ll be using myself as well as sharing with my own future teachers to add to their toolkits.

Yvonne El Ashmawi is a Clinical Assistant Professor of middle and secondary English education at Loyola University Chicago.  She teaches language arts methods and culturally responsive pedagogy.

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