ABSTRACT
‘Schools are uniquely poised to open the minds of students of all ages about gender diversity. Instead of reinforcing accepted cultural training of gender, schools can teach children to think for themselves about gender’. So schools and, of course, the people within them have an important choice to make: be part of the solution or part of the problem. Gender stereotyping in schools reinforces particular ideas about what is expected and acceptable behaviour from women and men, such as that women are weak and emotional, while men are strong and brave. ‘A significant portion of teachers report that sexism is an everyday occurrence in the classroom, and that small, seemingly insignificant events together create an environment in which pupils of both sexes come to see each other as different’. Sexual attraction without reliance on a gender binary has been happening, and will continue to happen, all the time.
