Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

 


Our Diversity is our greatest asset. Listening to "Start Seeing Diversity" helps me recognize ways to reduce bias in young children by illustrating the effort made by one community to create a responsive child care program. Through taking this course and other courses in this program, I have learned that bias, discomfort, and trauma all play an essential role in how children interact with others. As mentioned in the course textbook, sexual orientation is defined through the direction of one's sexual interest: heterosexual (to the opposite sex), homosexual (to the same sex), bisexual (to both sexes), asexual (not attracted to either sex). It also defined that a lesbian is a woman attracted to women, and a gay man is attracted to men (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010, p. 122).

 For the parents who oppose the inclusion of books depicting same-sex, the reality is, if you don't, someone else probably will - or already is. And you may not like what they have to say.

For parents who feel uncomfortable having a same-sex teacher as their children's teacher, I would assure them that the safety of all students remains the school's highest priority. Every teacher is expected to respect the privacy and physical boundaries of students.

Any family member who is opposed to homosexual or transgender caring interacting with their child is entitled to their opinion, and just I am entitled to mine. However, I would advise that gender orientation does not make a transgender teacher less qualified to teach their child.

   While heterosexism will take time to break down, educators have the opportunity, and perhaps the responsibility, to use their classrooms as forums for change. As educators, we must look at our own beliefs, the words we speak, the books we read to our students, the figures we place in block areas and dramatic play centers, and the holidays we celebrate honestly answer the question (Meredith, 2015).

As we embark on creating an inclusive classroom environment, it is vital to question our beliefs on homosexuality. The goal of the curriculum is to create a classroom and school that reflects all types of families.

People are identified through multiple identities but, whoever or whatever we are in life. We deserve to be respected, loved, and valued as unique members of families, communities, and social societies.




                                                              References


Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J.O. (2010). Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and

     Ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.


Meredith. (2015).Curriculum challenging institutionalized homophobia in early childhood education.

     Retrieved from https://homegrownfriends.com/home/curriculum-challenging-institutionalized-

     homophobia-in-early-childhood-education/

Comments

  1. Mechu LippertJanuary 30, 2022 at 11:04 AM

    Thank you for your thoughts!
    I have always seen teaching and educating to be a social service or one that truly works for people and with people, just like doctors for example. It is not our job to let our biases and backgrounds cloud our thoughts. It is our job to do the very best we can for every single child and their family, not matter what. Every single one of them deserves kindness, respect, and a high-quality education.
    By exposing our students to different types of families in books, shows, movies, and other toys, we are just giving them a glimpse of what they are going to expect in the real world. They can make the decisions after that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rebecca ClarkJanuary 30, 2022 at 11:38 AM

    Great post. I like what you said about how sexual orientation or other diversity does make someone less qualified. In order to be a truly inclusive classroom or community it is important to expose children to different viewpoints and perspectives. This also allows for empathy to begin developing at a young age. We must reflect ALL types of families like you said. Thanks for your thoughtful post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jen AminJanuary 30, 2022 at 12:43 PM

    Lucy, I like the image you chose for this post. It's an interesting way to visually represent diverse gender identities. I agree that heterosexism will take time to become less dominating in our cultural rhetoric, and educators have a primary role to play in opening the discussions towards a more inclusive view of families and love.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Teach the ChildrenJanuary 30, 2022 at 4:42 PM

    Great post! I think you covered both bullet points very well. Do you think that society is more likely to accept a girl engaging in stereotyped male activities such as playing with trucks and playing superheroes before they would accept a boy caring for babies or playing with Barbie dolls?

    ReplyDelete

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