Analyzing the Impact of Gender on Depictions of Touch in Early Childhood Textbooks

dc.creator	Andrew Gilbert
dc.creator	Shané Williams
dc.date	2008-01-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-08-12T11:20:43Z
dc.date.available	2015-08-12T11:20:43Z
dc.identifier	1524-5039
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/927c49e4da30444a9bedfac8d3a095c0
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/28475
dc.description	Early childhood contexts often enact “common-sense identities” that create and sustain the notion that teachers of young children are expressly female and heterosexual. It has also been argued that touch is a key difference between men and women in early childhood classrooms. This exploratory study examined 10 early childhood textbooks to determine whether images depicting touch enacted these common-sense notions. To investigate whether implicit gendered messages existed within the texts, images displaying touch between teachers and children were grouped according to three main recurrent themes: teacher touching child, child touching teacher, and mutually negotiated contact. Findings indicated that, although the images of male teachers were positive, troubling patterns did emerge concerning the type and nature of men’s contact with children. These patterns worked to reaffirm larger patriarchal structures at play in schools and society while simultaneously painting women as more suitable to nurture young children. Furthermore, the texts provided clear messages to beginning teachers that acceptable types of touch were delineated by gender. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for early childhood preservice teacher education.
dc.language	English
dc.language	Chinese
dc.language	Spanish
dc.publisher	ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, University of Illinois
dc.relation	http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v10n2/gilbert.html
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1524-5039
dc.source	Early Childhood Research & Practice, Vol 10, Iss 2 (2008)
dc.subject	Early Childhood Education
dc.subject	Male Teachers
dc.subject	Textbooks
dc.subject	Teacher-Child Relationships
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	Analyzing the Impact of Gender on Depictions of Touch in Early Childhood Textbooks
dc.type	article