Go Underground or in Your Face: Queer Students’ Negotiation of All-Girls Catholic Schools

Single-sex Catholic schools are guided by inclusive messages regarding sexuality, homosexuality, and combating homophobia. However, it appears that these official messages have little effect on the heteronormative climates found in such schools. Using the perspective of queer theory, we investigated the experiences of three queer females who attended all-girls Catholic high schools. All three reported climates that stifled homosexuality and promoted a strict gender binary. In response, our participants engaged in two types of gender performance: “going underground” and “in your face.” The climate in these schools forced our participants to invest substantial energy in creating alternative personas.