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It argues that WPAs and composition instructors must address both content selection and instructional context, noting that even widely used readers often omit LGBTQ voices or offer problematic, stereotype-reinforcing material. Drawing on surveys spanning the 1970s through later commercial texts, it quantifies low inclusion rates and highlights the gap between marketed “diversity” and actual LGBTQ presence, then proposes steps toward more inclusive, welcoming classrooms.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/breaking-the-silence-toward-improving-lgbtq-representation-in-composition-readers/598588/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/breaking-the-silence-toward-improving-lgbtq-representation-in-composition-readers/598588.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"A glass of water","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why does the author say LGBTQ representation in composition readers remains limited?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The author argues it is frequently absent and, when present, often problematic or insufficiently integrated into readers and classroom use.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What evidence does the author provide about low LGBTQ inclusion rates?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"A survey of 62 reader books from 1990 to 2000 found only 18 with any LGBTQ selections, and a later study of 290 commercial readers found only 73 with explicit LGBTQ content and/or authors.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What actions does the essay suggest WPAs and composition teachers can take?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It proposes specific steps within composition programs and in collaboration with publishers to improve LGBTQ representation in both textbooks and classroom materials.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},598588,1792940699,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962090760832,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Composition Forum 29, Spring 2014 [http://compositionforum.com/issue/29/](http://compositionforum.com/issue/29/)  \nBreaking the Silence: Toward Improving LGBTQ Representation in Composition Readers  \n [[http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=compforum](http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=compforum)]  \nJohn Hudson  \nAbstract: Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer (LGBTQ) representation in composition readers remains limited and is frequently nonexistent. In addition, the LGBTQ-related materials that do find their way into composition readers are often problematic. In this essay I explain why WPAs and composition teachers should be concerned about LGBTQ representation in composition readers, and offer suggestions as to the kinds of LGBTQ content to include in readers that might then be used as part of an anti-homophobic pedagogy. I argue that WPAs and composition teachers can take specific steps—both within their composition programs and without—to move us, along with publishers, toward improving LGBTQ representation in our textbooks and in our classrooms. By doing so, we can help shape composition readers that are more inclusive and more representative of LGBTQ subjectivities, while also creating more inclusive and welcoming classroom environments for our LGBTQ students.  \nIn 1997, Lynn Bloom, in accounting for the increasing popularity of the edited composition reader, claimed that “nearly all contemporary essay collections for composition courses reflect a range of multicultural authors, balanced according to gender, ethnicity, class, religion, and sexual preference”(136). {1} [\\#note1] I doubt that I’m the only reader who would question Bloom’s use of the term “balanced.” Indeed, a persistent problem for those instructors who turn to their assigned composition reader for Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer (LGBTQ)-related selections is that LGBTQ representation in composition readers has been historically—and indeed remains—very poor. For example, in 2000, as part of a graduate seminar project, I conducted a brief survey of LGBTQ representation in composition readers published in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. I set a very rigid criteria for determining whether or not I would consider a selection in a reader to be LGBTQ-related whereby the selection had to focus specifically on an LGBTQ-related topic, or on an LGBTQ individual specifically as a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer person. Using these criteria, out of sixty-two books surveyed for the years 1990 through 2000, only eighteen—less than thirty percent—contained any LGBTQ selections at all. To put this low level of representation in better perspective, the total number of individual reading selections for this period was thirty-six out of what must surely have been several thousand total selections. This is a small number. To put this number into greater perspective, consider that only a handful of readers accounted for a large proportion of the thirty-six LGBTQ selections. For example, of the three readers in the survey published in 1998, two contained a combined eight LGBTQ selections. It was surprising that more than seventy percent of readers for this period contain no LGBTQ selections whatsoever, and this in an era when publishers used multiculturalism and diversity—though overwhelmingly a “weak multiculturalism” in Newfield and Gordon’s terms (qtd. in Edelstein 23)—as selling points for their readers.  \nMore recently, Marinara et al. conducted a very thorough survey of LGBTQ representation in  \ncommercial readers beginning in 2006. Their results were quite similar to mine, and yet surprising, as  \nwell: out of 290 readers they examined, only 73—just over 25%--contained “explicit LGBTQ content and/or authors”(275). {2} [\\#note2] Some observers might have expected improvement in LGBTQ representation by 2006, given the popular narrative of social progress within the LGBTQ community,{3} [\\#note3] the notion that “things are g","cbCaibKSA1AbNDWp","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibKSA1AbNDWp","pdf",75899,17,"English","# Abstract\n# LGBTQ representation in composition readers\n## Historical inclusion rates (1970s-1990s)\n## Commercial readers after 2006\n## Related studies and findings\n# Problems with existing LGBTQ selections\n## Stereotypes and placement issues","[{\"question\":\"Why does the author say LGBTQ representation in composition readers remains limited?\",\"answer\":\"The author argues it is frequently absent and, when present, often problematic or insufficiently integrated into readers and classroom use.\"},{\"question\":\"What evidence does the author provide about low LGBTQ inclusion rates?\",\"answer\":\"A survey of 62 reader books from 1990 to 2000 found only 18 with any LGBTQ selections, and a later study of 290 commercial readers found only 73 with explicit LGBTQ content and/or authors.\"},{\"question\":\"What actions does the essay suggest WPAs and composition teachers can take?\",\"answer\":\"It proposes specific steps within composition programs and in collaboration with publishers to improve LGBTQ representation in both textbooks and classroom materials.\"}]","Breaking the Silence - Toward Improving LGBTQ Representation in Composition Readers | PDF",1792087211,43]