"This is an all-boys school! What did he expect?": Vindicating Non-Heterosexual Identities in Alice Oseman's Heartstopper

Abstract

[eng] Finding LGBTIQ+ content in Young Adult (YA) literature is becoming more common in recent years. An example of a literary work that has achieved great success is the LGBTIQ+ YA graphic novel Heartstopper (2019-) by the British writer Alice Oseman. It narrates the love story of Nick and Charlie, two teenage boys, who, like other characters, will find obstacles in their journey of personal growth and identity formation as non-heteronormative individuals. Today, graphic novels have become a form to write about the experiences of non-conforming gender identities and a way of raising awareness of the stereotypical images and frequent bias against LGBTIQ+ communities in contemporary society. This paper aims to analyse how the representation of conflicts experienced by the main characters, Charlie and Nick, allows the author to make visible the stereotypes and the mistreatment of LGBTIQ+ individuals in secondary education. It also intends to demonstrate to what extent Heartstopper, as a graphic novel, contributes to the LGBTIQ+ movement. To do this, this paper will rely on theoretical insights offered from the disciplines of gender studies, queer studies and literary studies.