ABSTRACT

Gendered norms construct teaching young children in Early Childhood Education (ECE) as a ‘feminine profession’ and as ‘women’s work’. Subsequently, men whoteach young children are often scrutinised. One troubling factor confronting men entering the profession is the construction of men as potential paedophiles. Scholars in the Global North have shown how a conflation of homosexuality with paedophilia positions gay men as actual and potential paedophilic perpetrators. We present a view from the Global South which demonstrates how South African male ECE preservice teachers favour gay men as teachers of young children . Gay men were depicted as feminine and more appropriate for teaching ECE than heterosexual men. Additionally, gay men were constructed as men who did not pose a paedophilic threat in ECE. Conversely, heterosexual male power and violence were used to distance heterosexual men from ECE. These findings demonstrate the fluidity of masculinity and the paedophilic threat in ECE.

摘要

性别规范将幼儿教育（ECE）中的幼儿教育视为“女性职业”和“女性工作”。随后，教幼儿的男人经常受到审查。男性进入该行业面临的一个令人不安的因素是将男性塑造为潜在的恋童癖者。全球北方的学者已经表明，将同性恋与恋童癖混为一谈如何将男同性恋者定位为实际和潜在的恋童癖肇事者。我们提出了来自全球南方的观点，该观点展示了南非男性 ECE 职前教师如何偏爱男同性恋者作为幼儿教师。男同性恋被描述为女性化，比异性恋男性更适合教授 ECE。此外，男同性恋者被构建为在 ECE 中不构成恋童癖威胁的男性。反过来，异性恋男性的权力和暴力被用来使异性恋男性远离欧洲经委会。这些发现证明了 ECE 中男性气质的流动性和恋童癖威胁。