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Differentiating for Gender in the Drama Classroom

This article takes the position that the secondary drama classroom is a powerful arena for exploring the politics of gender. It begins by suggesting that a policy for Equal Opportunity which takes a purely binary perspective of sexual identity, focussing on the boy/girl dichotomy, is fundamentally oppressive in itself. It goes on to outline ideas put forward by Judith Butler and Peggy Phelan which shift the focus of gender identity onto the body, as its cultural signifier. It then explores several practical ways in which such a focus can be used as a springboard for questioning the assumptions we hold about gender, through techniques employable in a dramatic space. It concludes by suggesting that it is only by making cultural issues of oppression explicit and open to examination within the curriculum, that a school can offer a truly emancipatory vision to its pupils, and that such exploration should supplement other form of Equal Opportunities policy.