'Decidedly Different': lesbian woman and education.

This article discusses the connection between lesbian identity and lesbian experience of the heterosexist British educational system. Lesbian women's experiences of education frequently occurs within a contradictory public relationship: their identity woman is usually visible whilst their identity lesbian remains generally invisible, both in educational settings and within wider educational discourses. The British compulsory educational system does not positively acknowledge difference to the norm of heterosexuality; it does not publicly tolerate lesbian and gay identities. This system is oppressive to those who identify themselves, or are identified by others, as lesbian, gay, or as different to the heterosexual norm. The way that this oppression is experienced, made sense of, and responded to, varies according to situation and context and to other aspects of identity. Lesbian women, or girls who are different to the heterosexual normative assumption, negotiate their lesbian identity in relation to a complex and interconnected relationship between the social constructions of their gendered, ethnic and class identities.