Children, Gender and Sexualities: An Action-Research with Teachers of Early Childhood Education

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-73782020000100053

Keywords:

Gender roles, Sexual behaviour, Basic education, Interview, Stereotypes

Abstract

The aim of this study was to know the subjectivation process of teachers about gender, sexuality and childhood in their educational practices. For this, an intervention research was conducted with the purpose of organizing dialogues with early childhood educators of a Municipal Center of Early Childhood Education. Workshops and interviews were conducted to collect data. We identified the use of gender technologies by teachers in the production of normalized childhoods, and how the school acts as an agent that puts this normalization into action. Among them, we identified ways of acting in the pedagogical process with children, the strength of discourses such as the identification of sexualities based on binary gender stereotypes, as well as interventions to correct deviations in the route of sexualities and genders. We perceive the effects of play and the relationship of the sex / gender mechanism that permeates play through the mediation of adults and the naturalizing and normalizing discourses. The research aimed to create a space for training and debate between researcher and educators in which questions about the normalization of genders and sexualities could be put in motion. It concludes with some considerations about the potential possibilities of early childhood education in breaking from binary and heternormative discourses about genders and sexualities from an early age.

Author Biographies

Eduardo Benedito, Universidad Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho

Graduado en Psicología en la Universidade Paranaense. Psicólogo escolar / educativo vinculado al Centro Municipal de Educación Infantil Curumim (guardería y preescolar). Tiene una maestría en Psicología y Sociedad por la Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho- Unesp, Assis. Vinculado al Grupo de Investigación de Psicología, Colectivos y Culturas Queer. Tiene experiencia en psicología escolar / educativa, desarrollo infantil y estúdios feministas

Leonardo Lemos de Souza, Universidad Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho

Doctor en Educación por la Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Pos doctorado en el Departamento de Psicología Básica de la Universitat de Barcelona. Profesor Asociado del Departamento de Psicología Social y del Programa de Posgrado en Pscología de la Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho- Unesp. Vinculado al Grupo de Investigación de Psicología, Colectivos y Culturas Queer

Published

2020-05-15

How to Cite

Eduardo Benedito, & Lemos de Souza, L. (2020). Children, Gender and Sexualities: An Action-Research with Teachers of Early Childhood Education. Latin American Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(1), 53–68. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-73782020000100053