I thought one good way to show how heterosexism permeates the world of young children would be to do a simple Internet search of "boy toys" and "girl toys". The two images above are two that came up with "boy toys" and the two below with "girl toys". It is easy to see what society views as the toys that should be used for boys and the ones that should be used for girls. The search for girl toys led me to pages full of pink and purple and even the girls in the ads were mostly dressed in these colors. The boy toy pages were full of cars and trucks, Lego's, action figures and I did not see any bright pink or pastel colors. These messages that society sends lead to how children focus their gender identity on cultural aspects such as a combination of how they observe the actions of those around them and what they hear adults say (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).
As a mother of four I am also very in tune to children's television and cartoons. I know that my children liked to watch Dora the Explorer but Dora was a very feminine cartoon. Yes, she went on adventures, but she was dressed in pink and purple and her backpack was also purple. Then, it seemed as if someone realized this and so they developed "Go Diego Go!" In this show Diego was Dora's male cousin who went on rescue missions for animals. Diego, unlike Dora wore what would be perceived as very masculine colors (Browns, and blues) and his adventures were more action packed. He had a "rescue pack" not a backpack which to me showed the stereotypical thought that men are the ones who come to the rescue while women are just off on adventures. Now I will say that although my girls really enjoyed watching Dora, they enjoyed Diego as well because he was usually rescuing animals which they loved. My first son would not watch Dora at all and preferred to watch Diego which I found very interesting. These cartoons are directed at preschool age children and it is easy to see how they could affect how children of this age view gender and lead to heterosexism.
I have definitely in my teaching experiences had to deal with homophobic terms. I have had children call other children gay before. This happened in my second grade classroom last year in fact. Two boys were doing an activity together and then I heard the one boy say to the other boy "you are so gay." I immediately stepped in and asked the boy who said it if he even knew what that meant. He said that he didn't know what it meant but that he heard his older brother say it. I then explained to him that the way that he used it was not in a nice way and that he shouldn't speak to anyone else in words that he did not even understand himself. I in fact did not take the issue any farther but in the video this week I learned that I probably should have. It said that even though a child might not know what the word "gay" means, it is still important to acknowledge that there are families with gay and lesbian parents and it is important to prepare children to be respectful of this type of family structure (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). If I would have discussed this situation further with these two boys I would have ensured that they would think better of using this term in a derogatory light the next time and be more respectful in their speech with others. These types of comments could influence all children because not only are the witnessing disrespectful speech, but if a child in the room actually came from a family structure with gay parents they would have felt degraded and disrespected. I now know that I could surely have handled this situation better and next time I will be able to use a more anti-bias approach when dealing with homophobic comments such as this.
I believe that it is very important to help children grow up in a home environment that is as free of stereotypes as possible. I know that I thought that I did a good job of this at home, but the more I learn the easier it is to see that I could do an even better job. I also know that I could do a better job of creating an anti-bias environment in my classroom. I think that it is very important to teach children to respect each other no matter the differences they may have but I now know that it is not enough to just tell them to be nice to one another. I have to involve them in anti-bias conversations and teach them about all of the stereotypes that are surrounding us and created by society. Until we find out what children know and how they feel about what they know we cannot create the building blocks to foster a truly anti-bias classroom. All of the information that I am learning is helping to change my thoughts, vision, and goals for the type of teacher I want to be and is strengthening my resolve to create a classroom free of bias and discrimination.
Resources:
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010).Learning from another’s life story (Video webcast).
