Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2025

Establishment of Rat Models Mimicking Gender-affirming Hormone Therapies
Published on: January 10, 2025
Hetero- and cisnormativity-UK pharmacy education as a queer opponent
Andrew Mawdsley1, Sarah C Willis2
1Division of Pharmacy and Optometry, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
Introduction:
Queer pedagogy is a lens through which the hegemonic discourses of curricula and the heterosexual assumptions within them can be made visible. Using this lens, sexuality and gender norms incorporated in undergraduate medical and health curricula can be located and the lived experience of a curriculum examined. This paper seeks to determine the extent of hetero/cisnormativity within UK pharmacy education with the aim of problematising the normalisation of heterosexuality; following this, strategies to disrupt structured hetero/cisnormativity are considered.
Methods:
Online cross-sectional surveys were distributed to course leads (n = 29) and students enrolled on undergraduate pharmacy (MPharm) programmes. Surveys captured quantitative data on curriculum design and perceived barriers to implementation of inclusive curriculum design (the espoused LGBTQI+ curriculum), as well qualitative data on the lived experience of the hidden curriculum. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, whereas qualitative data were analysed thematically.
Results:
Responses were received from 19 course leads and students from 25 MPharm programmes, representing varying completion rates. Findings suggest the shared values and goals of pharmacy education act to normalise and legitimise hetero and cis identities within curriculum design that othering as a consequence of heterosexual normativity is experienced and that pharmacy education is an LGBTQI+ opponent and does not adopt an ally attitude. Moreover, both educator and student data suggest that the enacted and experienced curriculum fails to prepare learners to care for LGBTQI+ people.
Discussion:
Despite findings suggesting the espoused or enacted curriculum absents LGBTQI+ people, and the hidden curriculum is experienced as homonegative, learners are questioning, resisting and disrupting the hetero- and cisnormative benevolent heterosexism within UK pharmacy curricula. This method of curricula interrogation can be adopted across health professions education as a means for ongoing problematising and disruption of normativity in clinical education.
More Related Videos
09:55Bridging the Technology Divide in the COVID-19 Era: Using Virtual Outreach to Expose Middle and High School Students to Imaging Technology
Published on: September 28, 2022
14:13Detecting Estrogenic Ligands in Personal Care Products using a Yeast Estrogen Screen Optimized for the Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory
Published on: January 1, 2018
Related Concept Videos
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Drug Abuse and Addiction: Pharmacological Phenomena
Nonlinear Pharmacokinetics: Role of Transporters
Polymorphisms occurring in drug transporters can alter...
Nurses' Legal Responsibilities III
Cultivating a culture of collaboration and mutual respect among nurses transcends mere enhancement...
Horney's Sociocultural Approach