Authenticity in the Classroom: A Qualitative Study of Lesbian Health Educators

This paper discusses the findings of a qualitative study which implemented a narrative inquiry approach to explore how lesbian health educators navigate authenticity in a heteronormative higher education setting. Authenticity is difficult to define and multifaceted by nature. Adjectives used to describe authenticity in the classroom include trustworthiness, honesty, genuineness, caring, and helpfulness (Brookfield, 2006; Kreber, Klampfleitner, McCune, Bayne, & Knottenbelt, 2007). The motivation to move towards authenticity provides a better understanding of self and an awareness of others. It enables a working relationship between student and teacher within a specific context of learning and includes critical reflection (Cranton & Carusetta, 2004). The working definition of authenticity used for this study is a process of ―knowing and understanding the collective and carefully, critically determining how we are different from and the same as the collective‖ (Cranton & Carusetta, 2004, p. 4). The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer (LGBTQ) populations are continually faced with difficult dilemmas in the classroom and on campus when working towards authenticity in light of their own sexual orientation which is different from the collective norm. There continues to be an increase in the voices and the visibility of the LGBTQ populations which has brought sexual orientation to the forefront in academia. This increase in voices and greater visibility places more emphasis on the LGBTQ teacher. In light of the heteronormative environment in the world at large (Herek, 2009), institutions of academia continue to struggle to break the hegemonic forces of homonegativity and bias (Gulley, 2009). These hegemonic forces provide difficult situations for the LGBTQ educator, thus, authenticity through the eyes of LGBTQ educators has been described as an evocative notion or an elusive, complex, contested construct (Kreber, 2010). This study focused on lesbian health educators in particular due to the difficult topics discussed in the health education classroom (i.e., sexuality education). The lesbian health educator is balancing her own identity and positionality with the difficult topics of health education in the classroom. It is this balancing act that draws the question and connection between authenticity and the lesbian health educator. Integral to the discussion of authenticity and identity is problematizing the idea of a core self and the socially constructed self. Moving towards authenticity or an authentic identity in the classroom has been suggested to be moving towards ―one‘s deepest spirit‖ or a ―core self‖ (Tisdell, 2003). Identity formation encompasses the notion of individual self (core self) and includes the effect of the social on individual identity development. The search for authentic identity then is a lifelong continual process in which individuals do not arrive at authenticity (if so this would evoke an essentialist standpoint) suggesting that the idea of claiming absolute authenticity cannot be attained. Therefore, the understanding of core self via authenticity is a journey of ―ongoing personal identity development‖ (Tisdell, 2000). Thus, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of a qualitative study that explored how lesbian health educators navigate authenticity in a heteronormative higher education classroom.