Objectives: Understandings of menstruation, including those within teaching, continue to draw on dominant discourses that construct menstruation as shameful and secret. This study trialled a new pedagogical approach to menstruation education that offered opportunities to engage with and mobilise alternative discourses. Design: Teachers of students…

Dominance in any sector prevents minority voices from being heard. Challenging dominance can be vulnerable, especially if the challenger identifies as part of a minority group. Marginalisation and silencing of issues pertaining to the gay community have long been the accepted norm in the education sector (Lee & Duncan, 2008; Robinson 2002).…

A literature search reveals minimal New Zealand and international research during the past 20 years with a specific focus on young bisexual women at school. This study addresses this paucity through acknowledgement of young bisexual women aged between 16 and 24 years and their experiences of being bisexual at secondary school in New Zealand. The…

The focus on, and concern about, young girls and preteens or "tweens" relates to the "sexualisation" of girlhood and the notion that girls are "growing up too fast" and becoming "too sexy too soon". In both popular and academic accounts, "tween" magazines and the increasingly "sexualised"…

This paper revisits the missing discourse of female desire [Fine, M. 1988. Sexuality, schooling and adolescent females: The missing discourse of desire. "Harvard Educational Review" 58, no. 1: 29-53] in secondary schools. Instead of echoing previous studies that have documented how female desire is missing, this research starts from the…

In schools today inclusion involves a challenge to attitudes and expectations within educational communities. "The New Zealand Disability Strategy" (Minister for Disability Issues, 2001), is a guide for government action to promote a more inclusive society. Out of its 15 Objectives, Objective 1 encourages and educates the community and…

Women in colonial New Zealand did not have the variety of recreational options available in the "motherland" (Great Britain). Nevertheless, there was a social climate of acceptance if not for the female athlete then certainly for the woman eager to enjoy the fun and freedom of recreational activities. In New Zealand, the social class…

This article presents commentaries on being gay in Japan and China by distinguished educators with various backgrounds and from different countries. Given space limitations, these are more evocative than particulate, but collectively they provide multiple platforms for reflection. As noted by some commentators in this article and others (e.g.,…

This feature is a collection of brief essays recently written by Australian, New Zealand, and American lesbians followed by commentaries from several leading educators and scholars. Their commentaries are followed with brief comments by some of these young writers.