“The Example He or She Sets”: American Public Schools, Social Norms, and Regulations on Teacher Gender and Sexuality, 1900-1980
Date of Award
Spring 2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History
First Advisor
Meyerowitz, Joanne
Abstract
My dissertation explores moments of conflict and debate over teacher gender and sexuality policies in the twentieth century. The body, identity, and behavior of the teacher was so heavily regulated, I argue, because school officials, policy makers, and community members believed the way that teachers modeled gender and sexuality shaped what students learned was acceptable. Fights over teacher regulation and personal choice revealed anxiety about or inclination for changing views of acceptable masculinity and femininity, sex and sexuality, and gender roles. Teachers both reflected and pushed social change. Sometimes, as with agitation for allowing teachers with short “bobbed” hair or late in pregnancy to remain in the classroom, teachers were able to force changes in school policies to more accurately reflect changing social norms. Other times, as with the case of sexual relationships between teachers and students, teachers reflected societally dominant sexual norms. And sometimes, as was often the case with gay and lesbian teachers, teachers were unable to push the bounds of the classroom but rather were limited by larger societal ideas about acceptable and unacceptable gender and sexuality. Acceptable teacher gender and sexuality reflected normative white, middle-class values. While definitions of normatively acceptable gender and sexuality shifted throughout the twentieth century as American views of public sexuality and gender roles shifted, dominant norms continued to be reflected in the classroom. Teachers themselves sometimes pushed to open the classroom following broader societal shifts, and were often successful when they could claim regulations were outdated. Still, the rhetoric of protecting children remained powerful, and teachers were often stymied in their pushes for change in gender and sexuality policies.
Recommended Citation
Rosenberg, Rachel, "“The Example He or She Sets”: American Public Schools, Social Norms, and Regulations on Teacher Gender and Sexuality, 1900-1980" (2023). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 1053.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/1053
