Saturday, November 16, 2013

Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation



Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation
The world is now opening up to diversity than it has ever done during former years. As I viewed both videos on “Start Seeing Diversity: Gender, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation,” my own social identity lenses are now more clearer in understanding  how important it is to be supportive of our children in their early childhood development. As an early childhood educator, I am more aware that homophobia and heterosexism permeate the world of young children in the language that they use towards each other. If our children see two boys embracing each other or two girls hugging each other, they start pointing fingers at them and hurled comments like “gay” and “lesbian” at these children. The term, “that’s so gay” or “he gay” is the most familiar term I have heard. The culture of most early childhood centers do not accommodate all family types either. I have come to realize that when the children in my center go the dramatic play area, the boys tend to play more as “daddies,”  “truck drivers,” and “builders” while the girls get the dolls and play the “mommies” with ease and comfort. There are not enough books supporting diversity as well.
It is against the above-mentioned background that I realize that we as early childhood educators, as (Pelo, 2008) suggests, need to do more active intervention work “if our children are to develop positive attitudes about people of different races and background” (2008). The toy stores and movies still continue to exhibit “the sex-role stereotypes” of the macho man and fantasy world of glittering, giggling princesses who are waiting to be validated by the men in their lives (Pelo, 2008). It becomes imperative that we start or continue to open up conversations with our families with regard to what is happening in our societies and around the world as it relates to gender, gender identity and sexual orientation. When these conversations begin, they will assist us as educators to provide opportunities not only for our students but also our parents to explore their ideas on gender identity and sexual orientation. It is my firm belief that when parents are fully informed on the importance of being respectful and of valuing everyone regardless of their sexual orientation or gender, it would not be difficult to help them to understand that their children’s educational goals would be met even if it is being carried out by a person perceived as a homosexual or transgender (Derman-Sparks, & Olsen Edwards, (2010).
References
Course Media: "Start Seeing Diversity: Gender" Retrieved from
Course Media: "Start Seeing Diversity: Sexual Orientation" Retrieved from
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Pelo, A. (Ed.). (2008). Rethinking early childhood education. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.





2 comments:

  1. I agree that the world is opening up more now to diversity than it has in the past. But with this happening I think it is more important now to include materials in our classrooms that contain information about different families and lifestyles that our families and children are choosing. As our children are continuing to grow up, they are beginning to understand what the new normal is and what it means for them. As an early childhood education professional, I think it is part of my job to introduce children to the concepts surrounding diversity, because our world is becoming more diverse faster than we can blink. Great blog.

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  2. Colleague Lindsay:
    I could not agree with you more.If we do not support our children in a positive way to understand the true concepts of diversity, then we will not be able to help them create the peaceful, diverse world we are anticipating to come. Thank you for visiting my blog.

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