Even if you say it three ways, it still doesn’t mean it’s true: The pervasiveness of heteronormativity in early childhood education

Abstract

Heteronormativity, the concept that heterosexual sexuality is an institutionalized norm and a superior and privileged standard, is held firm when discourses of gender, sexualities and family form converge. In a study of heteronormative discourses in the context of early childhood education, teachers shared accounts of practices where genders, sexualities and family form were troubled and troubling. An analysis of these showed the repetitive distribution of the statement, heterosexuality is/as normal, and therefore illuminated the pervasiveness of heteronormativity in work with young children and families. This article makes visible the ways heteronormativity is achieved in early childhood education along these trajectories and asks, in whose interests is the (hetero)norm being preserved?