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Originally Posted by Heart
That's interesting... what exactly is "gender-neutral," how is it achieved, maintained? Does it validate multiple gender experiences while reducing stereotypes or does it erase/minimize/police gender? Is it liberating or stifling?
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Remember that we are discussing a kindergarten classroom here...not a college sociology experiment. In my opinion these children's experiences are validated 150% simply by allowing them the freedom to create their own identities and "roles" within the safety of their classroom. By negating gender oriented language/toys/stereotypical representations of boys and girls, the children are afforded the opportunity to create...to actively engage in an etherial realm uninhibited by societal constraints that have been punctuated by the male-female dichotomy. Play, in all its magnificent forms, allows the child to cultivate a healthy curiosity that in turn (over time - via life experiences) metamorphosizes into an ideology.