Abstracts
Abstract
In this article, the authors draw on feminist theorizations to examine ethnographic data, illustrating how femmephobia is enacted among boys in kindergarten. They also examine how teachers’ well-intended responses may inadvertently legitimize femmephobia when a femininity-affirmative orientation is not applied. The authors argue that intentional gender-affirming actions by education stakeholders are necessary for promoting and supporting fluid gender explorations in kindergarten, especially in terms of valuing and validating femininity among boys. Specifically, they consider the potentials of femininity-affirmative pedagogy as one approach to countering femmephobia and working towards gender inclusion and equality in early education.
Keywords:
- childhood,
- early education,
- feminist theory,
- gender-affirming,
- gender policing
Download the article in PDF to read it.
Download
Appendices
Bibliography
- Amaral, N., Torelli, C., Tat Keh, H., & Chiu, C. Y. (2019). Harley blow dryers and Dove Men body wash: The masculine-American stereotype and its effects on gendered marketing. ACR North American Advances.
- Balter, A-S., van Rhijn, T., Gores, D., Davies, A. W. J., & Akers, T. (2021). Supporting the development of sexuality in early childhood: The rationales and barriers to sexuality education in early learning settings. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 30(3), 287–295. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjhs.2021-0034
- Bhana, D. (2003). Children are children: Gender doesn’t matter. Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity, 56, 37–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2003.9676019
- Bhana, D., & Mayeza, E. (2016). “We don’t play with gays, they’re not real boys … they can’t fight”: Hegemonic masculinity and (homophobic) violence in the primary years of schooling. International Journal of Educational Development, 51, 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2016.08.002
- Bimm, M., & Feldman, M. (2020). Towards a femme pedagogy, or making space for trauma in the classroom. MAI, 5. https://maifeminism.com/towards-a-femme-pedagogy-or-making-space-for-trauma-in-the-classroom/
- Blaise, M. (2005). Playing it straight: Uncovering gender discourses in the early childhood classroom. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
- Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. (1990). Reproduction in education, society, and culture (2nd ed.). SAGE.
- Brightwell, L., & Taylor, A. (2021). Why femme stories matter: Constructing femme theory through historical femme life writing. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 25(1), 18–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2019.1691347
- Bryan, N. (2020). Shaking the bad boys: Troubling the criminalization of Black boys’ childhood play, hegemonic white masculinity and femininity, and the school playground-to-prison pipeline. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(5), 673–692. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2018.1512483
- Cannella, G. S. (1997). Deconstructing early childhood education: Social justice and revolution. Peter Lang.
- Carrington, B., & McPhee, A. (2008). Boys “underachievement” and the feminization of teaching. Journal of Education for Teaching, 34(2), 109–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607470801979558
- Connell, R. W. (1995). Masculinities. Allen & Unwin.
- Dahl, U. (2012). Turning like a femme: Figuring critical femininity studies. NORA-Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 20(1), 57–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2011.650708
- Davies, A., & Hoskin, R. A. (2021). Using femme theory to foster a feminine-inclusive early childhood education practice: Equity as praxis in early childhood education and care in Ontario. In Z. Abawi, A. Eizadirad, & R. Berman (Eds.), Equity as praxis in early childhood education and care (pp. 107–124). Canadian Scholars Press.
- Davies, A., & Hoskin, R. A. (2023). Femme-inist approaches to early childhood education & care: Cultivating pedagogies of care via femme theory. In L. R. & B. Richardson (Eds.), The early childhood educator: Critical conversations in feminist theory. Bloomsbury.
- Davies, A., & Neustifter, R. (2023). Fat fuckers and fat fucking: A feminine ethic of care in sex therapy. Psychology & Sexuality, 14(1), 294–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2022.2109988
- Davies, A. W. (2020). “Authentically” effeminate? Bialystok’s theorization of authenticity, gay male femmephobia, and personal identity. Canadian Journal of Family and Youth / Le Journal Canadien de Famille et de la Jeunesse, 12(1), 104–123. https://doi.org/10.29173/cjfy29493
- Davies, A. W. (2021). Queering app-propriate behaviours: The affective politics of gay social-sexual applications in Toronto, Canada [Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, OISE]. TSpace. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/105012
- Davies, A. W. (2023). Love, Simon and failure: Challenging normative discourses and femmephobia in gay youth representations. Sexualities, 13634607231199409. https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607231199409
- Davies, A. W., & Kenneally, N. (2020). Cripping the controversies: Ontario rights-based debates in sexuality education. Sex Education, 20(4), 366–382. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2020.1712549
- Davies, B. (1989). Frogs and snails and feminist tales: Preschool children and gender. Allen & Unwin.
- Davies, B. (2014). Listening to children: Being and becoming. Routledge.
- Deveau, J. L. (2009). Examining the institutional ethnographer’s toolkit. Journal of the Society for Socialist Studies, 1–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.18740/S4F60Z
- Ellsworth, E. (1989). Why doesn’t this feel empowering? Working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review, 59(3), 297–325. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.59.3.058342114k266250
- Feltham, L. E., & Ryan, C. (2022). Exploring pedagogical practices for engaging boys in ballet. Journal of Dance Education, 22(4), 223–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/15290824.2020.1841206
- Francis, B. (1998). Power plays: Primary school children’s constructions of gender, power, and adult work. Trentham Books.
- Freire, P. (1968). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum.
- Greishaber, S. (1998). Constructing the gendered infant. In N. Yelland (Ed.), Gender in early childhood (pp. 15–35). Routledge.
- hooks, b. (2014). Feminist theory: From margin to center (3rd ed.). Routledge.
- Hoskin, R. A. (2017). Femme theory: Refocusing the intersectional lens. Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice, 38(1), 95–109. https://atlantisjournal.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/4771
- Hoskin, R. A. (2020). “Femininity? It’s the aesthetic of subordination”: Examining femmephobia, the gender binary, and experiences of oppression among sexual and gender minorities. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(7), 2319–2339. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01641-x
- Hoskin R. A. (2021). Can femme be theory? Exploring the epistemological and methodological possibilities of femme. Journal of Lesbian Studies 25(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2019.1702288
- Hoskin, R. A., & Blair, K. L. (2022). Critical femininities: a “new” approach to gender theory. Psychology & Sexuality, 13(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2021.1905052
- Kuhl, D., & Martino, W. (2018). “Sissy” boys and the pathologization of gender nonconformity. In S. Talburt (Ed.), Youth sexualities: Public feelings and contemporary cultural politics (2 volumes; pp. 31–60). ABC-CLIO.
- Kumashiro, K. K. (2000). Toward a theory of anti-oppressive education. Review of Educational research, 70(1), 25–53. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543070001025
- Langford, R. (2019). Introduction. In R. Langford (Ed.), Theorizing feminist ethics of care in early childhood practice: Possibilities and danger (pp. 1–15). Bloomsbury.
- Lee, N. (2001). Childhood and society. Open University Press.
- Lyttleton-Smith, J., & Robinson, K. H. (2019). “I like your costume”: Dress-up play and feminist trans-theoretical shifts. In J. Osgood & K. H. Robinson (Eds.), Feminists researching gendered childhoods: Generative entanglements (pp. 61–84). Bloomsbury Academic.
- MacNaughton, G. (2000). Rethinking gender in early childhood education. Paul Champlain.
- MacNaughton, G. (2006). Constructing gender in early-years education. In C. Skelton, B. Francis, & L. Smulyan (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of gender and education (pp. 127–138). SAGE.
- Martino, W. (2000). Policing masculinities: Investigating the role of homophobia and heteronormativity in the lives of adolescent school boys. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 8(2), 213–236. https://doi.org/10.3149/jms.0802.213
- Martino, W., & Cumming-Potvin, W. (2019). “Effeminate arty boys and butch soccer girls”: Investigating queer and trans-affirmative pedagogies under conditions of neoliberal governance. Research Papers in Education, 34(2), 131–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2017.1402082
- Mayeza, E. (2018). “It’s not right for boys to play with dolls”: Young children constructing and policing gender during “free play” in a South African classroom. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 39(4), 590–602. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2017.1290584
- Mayeza, E., & Bhana, D. (2017). Addressing gender violence among children in the early years of schooling: Insights from teachers in a South African primary school. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 26(4), 408–425. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2017.1319288
- McCann, H. (2018). Beyond the visible: Rethinking femininity through the femme assemblage. European Journal of Women's Studies, 25(3), 278–292. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506818767479
- Mittleman, J. (2023). Homophobic bullying as gender policing: Population-based evidence. Gender & Society, 37(1), 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/08912432221138091
- Osgood, J., & Robinson, K. H. (2017). Celebrating pioneering and contemporary feminist approaches to studying gender in early childhood. In K. Smith, K. Alexander, & S. Campbell (Eds.), Feminism(s) in early childhood: Using feminist theories in research and practice (pp. 35–47). Springer Singapore.
- Paechter, C. (2018). Rethinking the possibilities for hegemonic femininity: Exploring a Gramscian framework. Women’s Studies International Forum, 68, 121–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2018.03.005
- Payne, E., & Smith, M. J. (2016). Gender policing. In N. Rodriguez, W. Martino, J. Ingrey, & E. Brockenbrough (Eds.), Critical concepts in queer studies and education: An international guide for the twenty-first century (pp. 127–136). Palgrave Macmillan.
- Pollack, W. S. (1998). Real boys: Rescuing our sons from the myths of boyhood. Random House.
- Prioletta, J. (2020). Unmasking the institutionalization of gender-based violence in Ontario’s kindergarten education program: The hidden effects of play-based learning [Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, OISE]. TSpace. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/101224
- Prioletta, J., & Davies, A. W. (2022). Femmephobia in kindergarten education: Play environments as key sites for the early devaluation of femininity and care. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491221137902
- Prout, A. (2005). The future of childhood. Routledge/Falmer.
- Robinson, K. H. (2013). Innocence, knowledge, and the construction of childhood: The contradictory nature of sexuality and censorship in children’s contemporary lives. Routledge.
- Robinson, K. H., & Davies, C. (2008). “She’s kickin’ ass, that’s what she’s doing”: Deconstructing childhood “innocence” in media representations. Australian Feminist Studies, 23(57), 343–358. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164640802233294
- Robinson, K. H., & Jones-Díaz, C. (2016). Diversity and difference in early childhood: Issues for theory and practice (2nd ed.). Open University Press.
- Schwartz, A. (2018). Locating femme theory online. First Monday, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v23i7.9266
- Scott, J. B. (2021). What do glitter, pointe shoes, & plastic drumsticks have in common? Using femme theory to consider the reclamation of disciplinary beauty/body practices. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 25(1), 36–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/10894160.2019.1689329
- Serano, J. (2007). Whipping girl: A transsexual woman on sexism and the scapegoating of femininity. Seal Press.
- Smith, D. E. (1987). The everyday world as problematic: A feminist sociology. Northeastern University Press.
- Smith, D. E. (2006). Introduction. In D. E. Smith (Ed.), Institutional ethnography as practice (pp. 1–12). Rowman & Littlefield.
- Swartz, L. (2020). Teaching tough topics: How do I use children’s literature to build a deeper understanding of social justice equity and diversity? Pembroke.
- Thorne, B. (1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in school. Rutgers University Press.
- Timmons, K., & Airton, L. (2023). Welcoming gender diversity in the early years: Interpreting professional guiding documents for gender-expansive practice. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 24(1), 32–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949120978526
- Troutman, S., & Jiménez, I. (2016). Lessons in transgression: #BlackGirlsMatter and the feminist classroom. Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 15(1), 7–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/meridians.15.1.03
- Walkerdine, V. (1990). Schoolgirl fictions. Verso.
- West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender and Society, 1(2), 125–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243287001002002
- Wright, J. (2022). Trauma-informed consent education: Understanding the grey area of consent through the experiences of youth trauma survivors. Atlantis, 43(1), 19–31. https://atlantisjournal.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/5583
10.7202/1096954ar