Sex and Secrecies: An Exploration of Students’ Conceptualizations of Heteronormativity

Abstract

Graffiti on the female students’ lavatory doors of a higher education institution in Malta, most often describing sexual and romantic desires, demonstrates how students create alternative spaces beyond formal learning environments to acquire knowledge about sex and sexual orientation. This article presents a study of the writings that document the student perceptions about lesbianism. A heteronormative way of thinking emerged as the dominant characteristic in the exploration of graffiti text, which questioned lesbian identities. This article also explores some of the girls’ articulations, which describe their physical attractions toward gay boys/men. The study suggests these writings have created a forum that serves as a platform to actively reproduce, contest, and disrupt heteronormative familiarity and also to facilitate attempts by the lesbian graffiti girls to organize themselves outside the graffiti community.