Suggests that children's books can socialize children to cultural norms, including gender roles. Maintains that male images are more dominant in children's literature than are female images. Provides guidelines for analyzing children's books for sexism. Includes an annotated bibliography of books for 4- to 6-year-olds that break gender role…

This chapter explores how theory, activism, and practice around sexual orientation and gender identity come together, as viewed through the lens of queer critical postmodernism.

This feature is a collection of brief essays recently written by Australian, New Zealand, and American lesbians followed by commentaries from several leading educators and scholars. Their commentaries are followed with brief comments by some of these young writers.

Gender schema theory proposes that children's acquisition of gender labels and gender stereotypes informs gender-congruent behaviour. Most previous studies have been cross-sectional and do not address the temporal relationship between knowledge and behaviour. We report the results of a longitudinal study of gender knowledge and sex-typed behaviour…

Placing issues of homophobia and anti-lesbianism on the agenda of teacher education programmes often meets with resistance from some students, and others. Such resistance is indicative of broader attempts to maintain the straight face of schooling. However, one way in which it is possible to place such issues on the agenda in schooling and teacher…

This paper takes up the concern that sexual health programs targeting adolescents may actually increase HIV risk among youth by reinforcing dominant versions of masculinity that portray males as sexually irresponsible and unconcerned about their health. If a key aim in HIV prevention education is a renegotiation of high-risk behavioral norms, an…

Transgender youth have become more visible in the last decade but remain one of the most underserved populations on college campuses and have largely been ignored in the higher education literature. To provide a context for understanding the experiences of gender variant students, this article provides a brief history of transgenderism before…

Transgender kids and kids from trans families attend preschool and kindergarten. For the safety, comfort, and optimum learning of these students, trans-positive early childhood education environments are necessary. Through simple changes to existing curricula and equipment, teachers, parents, and administrators can create a trans-positive setting…

Transgender students are becoming more visible on college campuses. This qualitative study examines the experiences of undergraduate and graduate students who self-identify as transgender. Most of the participants reported that a hostile climate for transgender students exists on their campuses and that their colleges lack resources and education…

Used qualitative interviews to examine beliefs and values about biological and adoptive parents. Considered how biological kinship, gender, and actual parenting behavior affect the assessments respondents made of the emotional bonding between parents and children. Found that biological and adoptive parents viewed motherhood as instinctive and…

This is a study of how heterosexual girls construct the meaning of their health issues within their dating relationships. We found that a number of barriers contributed to girls' difficulty with articulating their needs and desires in their romantic relationships. Adolescent girls who participated in our study blamed themselves for their…

This paper focuses on inner-city juvenile parolees' gendered interactions at a community school in a large southwestern city. The analysis seeks to interpret the students' gender constructions within the contexts of cultural ideologies and social-structural locations. Drawing from a year of field research at the school and interviews with youths…

Describes overt and latent gender conflicts in an adventure education program at a small southwestern college. Analyzes dynamics within the program, drawing on feminist application of social construction theory, the theory of gender differences in moral development, and a feminist critique of dualistic hierarchical thinking. Discusses implications…

This chapter presents several strategies for teaching about sex and gender using entertainment media and explores critical issues related to content development, the delivery process, and evaluation methods.

Men who choose to do "women's work" and enter the female culture of the primary school can often initially face a range of stereotyped responses to their choice. Drawing on stories from a small sample of trainee and serving male teachers, we adopt the term "identity bruising" to describe the "knock backs" that occur…