Exposing bush binaries: using the media to problematize gender

Abstract

In problematizing some of the ways gender is being discursively constituted and perpetuated by a small rural newspaper in western Queensland, Australia, this chapter models for educators an approach to disrupting gender beliefs and practices that can work to inhibit students' schooling and life performances. It provides both a method and a model for moving beyond the limitations imposed by gender binaries to a more socially just and equitable world. This chapter spills out of a larger research project being conducted in a western Queensland community. That project adopts a case study approach to explore and question local gender discourses, ideologies, and practices.