Some
of the ways you noticed that homophobia and heterosexism permeate the world of
young children including books, movies, toys, stores, culture of early
childhood centers, and schools.
I see homophobia in stores. Toys-R-Us’s website
clearly identified boys’ toys and girls’ toys. This limits kids’ options on what
toys to want and how to play and implies that playing with toys of different
genders is bad or weird. I also see homophobia in the older Disney Princess
movies. Princesses are usually beautiful girls who don’t voice their opinions
if they even have them. They are beautiful and do housework without
complaining, until they are saved by a Prince. However, I see changes in more recent
kids’ movies. Fiona in Shrek fights against enemies with martial arts and makes
a very deliberate choice to remain an ogre, which is considered ugly even
though she could have remained a beautiful woman. The main characters in Chicken
Little and How to Train a Dragon are not strong or powerful but end up becoming
heroes because they care for others, and are smart
Your
response to those who believe that early childhood centers should avoid the
inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex
partnered families.
I would explain that our job is to provide children with
environments that help them to build high-esteemed identities and to become
people who respect various kinds of people. To do so, we need books depicting
gay, lesbian and same-sex partnered families because it makes them visible in their
world which raises awareness. Hiding that there are gay and lesbian people gives
children biases that people who are not heterosexual are abnormal or less
important. I would also explain that awareness does not increase the rate of
children’s becoming gay or lesbian as adults.
