(Re)constructing Gay, a Classroom, and a Journey to Rhetorical Listening

Abstract

This article explores Ratcliffe’s (2005) theory of rhetorical listening and the means of utilizing it to interpret and facilitate conversations around gay identities, especially between teachers and students in the classroom. Conversations around sexual identities in classrooms have changed the way in which teachers and students communicate, as well as the way conversations are approached to the point of becoming nonexistent. By these conversations becoming nonexistent, gay identities become isolated in the classroom, therefore silencing what could become rhetorical opportunities for growth. I utilize rhetorical listening as a pedagogical strategy against the weaponization of the word gay. Using Ratcliffe’s (2005) original theory of listening pedagogically as a foundation, I build on listening’s potential to address controversial or highly charged rhetoric around issues of identity, in this case, utilizing the word gay in the classroom. I elaborate on the theory of rhetorical listening and its implications—raising awareness of identification and constructing conversations that can be applied in listening to identity rhetoric in pedagogical settings. Finally, this paper suggests using rhetorical listening pedagogy in classrooms and illustrates a series of arbitrations that show rhetorical listening as a tool for application in discussing issues of queer identity in the classroom.