Navigating Gender and Sexuality in Indonesian Foreign Language Classrooms: Teacher Strategies and Institutional Constraints

ABSTRACT

Gender and sexuality topics surface routinely in cross‐cultural language classrooms, yet how teachers navigate these encounters in non‐English foreign language contexts remains largely unexplored. This qualitative study examines how teachers of Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing (BIPA; Indonesian for Foreign Speakers) respond to learner‐initiated questions about gender and sexuality, the factors shaping their pedagogical decisions, and the training and policy infrastructure available to them. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 50 BIPA teachers from public ( n  = 33), private ( n  = 12), and state Islamic universities ( n  = 5) across six Indonesian island groups, analyzed using Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis. All participants confirmed that foreign learners routinely raised questions about gender‐ and sexuality‐related vocabulary (86%), cultural norms and relationships (74%), comparative cultural inquiry (58%), and intersections of Islam and sexuality (44%). Four response strategies were identified: cultural explanation (62%), defensive framing (38%), deflection and redirection (30%), and humor (22%). A pronounced institutional gradient shaped strategy selection: cultural explanation predominated at public universities (70%), whereas deflection was universal in state Islamic universities. Three intersecting factors influenced pedagogical decisions: religious and moral values (76%), institutional climate and perceived risk (52%), and regional context (42%). Not a single participant had received training on gender or sexuality in language education, and none reported specific institutional guidelines, yet 82% expressed a desire for professional development. These findings reveal a structural silence that truncates intercultural competence and reproduces heteronormative and gender‐normative assumptions, underscoring the urgent need for curricular integration of gender and sexuality literacy, professional development, and institutional guidelines.