A1 Biography and reflection Exemplar

The text below is an example biography for Assessment 1. You’ll note this biography recounts a
specific moment from the author’s past where he noticed an aspect of perceived difference and
diversity (i.e., a short interaction between the author and his friend about sexuality and gender).

Your biography should recount a moment; it can be about your experience or something you
observed about someone else’s experiences; and it can focus on any aspect of difference and
diversity (e.g., sex, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, Aboriginality, age, class, ethnicity, faith, etc.).

Your biography can be up to 300 words in length. Remember that you are required to submit your
biography with your reflection to Turnitin; however, your biography will not be assessed.

Biography—Waiting in Line for School

Photos
I recall being in primary school, an eight-year-old boy, waiting in line with my peers to have my

picture taken for the school photos. A tall, thin, blonde man working for the photography company

hired by the school stood tall at the front of the line. His job was to make us look presentable for our

photos. He would comb messy hair, flatten crinkled shirts, make jokes, and point to his grin,

gesturing for us to smile. He was kind, cheerful, and delightfully flamboyant.

I was next in line.

Leaning in close to my friend, I whispered, “I don’t want this homo touching me.”

“They could hire a hot chick for once,” my friend replied, nodding in agreement. We giggled quietly

to ourselves.

Stepping forward, the man gently swept the hair out of my face with a comb, made a joke, and

pointed to his cheek-to-cheek grin, gesturing for me to smile.

Giving my friend a knowing look, I cringed and recoiled.

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A1 Biography and reflection Exemplar

The text below is an example of a critical reflection (based on the biography, ‘Waiting in line for
school photos’). It recounts the social practices of a specific community that the author was
complicit in (a friendship group within a primary school context), which formed his understanding
of gender and sexuality and contributed to a form of marginalisation.

Your reflection should focus on the ways in which familial, cultural, political, religious, social, or
historical practices (choose one or two) shaped the experience of difference you have outlined in
your biography. You will reflect on the ways in which these practices produced discrimination,
marginalisation, privilege, opportunity, equality, equity, or freedom (choose one). Your
reflection will be 500 words in length (+/-10%).

Critical Reflection
My biography recounts an interaction I had with my friend in primary school where we made fun of

a blonde man hired by the school because we thought he was gay. It was an instance of

homophobia, to be sure. But more specifically, my friend and I learned to perform a particular type

of masculinity. It was a masculinity that rejected both the possibility that we might be gay (we must

be straight) and acceptability of others’ homosexuality (others should not be gay). Our interaction

was broadly about the necessity of heterosexuality, and specifically about affirming our

heterosexuality through marginalising someone else on the basis of perceived difference. I am

interested in the formative work that this investment in heterosexuality did in primary school.

In school, it was important to me that I “fit in” with the school culture, which required others

to believe I was heterosexual. The pressure for students to conform to gender norms in school

cultures is high. Indeed, friendships form and are maintained through students’ social practices

finding “acceptable ways of doing boy” and “girl” (Renold, 2005, p. 89). At my school, everyone was

assumed to be heterosexual: being gay or lesbian was not spoken about—but even when it was, it

was derogatory. If I did not provide reassurance that I was heterosexual, I would risk becoming “the

blonde man”, risk being exposed, rejected, abused, and marginalised by others.

My friend and I were reproducing the social practices of our school context. We had learned

the word “homo”: we thought it meant “gay”; we thought “gay” meant “same-sex attraction”; and

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A1 Biography and reflection Exemplar

we thought “same-sex attraction” between men meant being “incorrectly man”. That was the extent

of our understanding, and the blonde man was an easy target to reassure each other of our mutual,

masculine “rightness”. These social practices co-constituted my masculinity and heterosexuality,

doing work to secure my place in the social hierarchy of the school. My fear was that if I did not

visibilise my rejection of the blonde man – through a comment, through a physical cringe and recoil

– people would suspect me of condoning his difference, of not complying with the social norms that

boys are masculine and desiring of girls. I refused to be marginalised.

Schools are social arenas where children learn about heterosexuality and how to use it to

secure status (Ingraham, 2005). My friend and I wielded heterosexuality to secure the safety and

capital it offered. Indeed, when my friend complained that a “hot chick” should have been hired, it

implied that he (or we) would desire her. It was a comment again intended to embrace our

heterosexuality, but it also suggests that notions of sexuality, gender, and desire were critical social

practices in the maintenance of our friendship group (Renold, 2005). Our mutual disregard for this

man, and interest in (objectification of) a fictitious woman, was a form of marginalisation functioning

to remind us that we belonged to this friendship group and this community, so he must not.

Years later, I would come out as gay. My prior investment in heterosexuality at the expense

of others encouraged me to reflect on how these gendered norms are formed. But more

importantly, I became interested in learning how to ethically respond to these social practices,

rather than reproduce them.

Reference list

Ingraham, C. (2005). Introduction: Thinking straight. In C. Ingraham (Ed.), Thinking straight: The
power, the promise, and the paradox of heterosexuality. New York: Routledge.
Renold, E. (2005). Girls, boys, and junior sexualities: Exploring childrens gender and sexual relations
in the primary school. London: Routledge.