“Emma and Dave Sitting on a Tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G” Boys and Girls at Play

Abstract

Against dominant conceptions of childhood innocence, this chapter makes visible the obligatory construction of gender and heterosexuality through play. It continues the leitmotif from the previous chapter that portrays children as actively engaged in the dynamic process of producing gender and sexuality in the early years of primary schooling. Providing a counter-narrative to childhood innocence, this chapter opens up the paradox between teaching discourses which attempt to secure the myth of the non-gendered, non-sexual developing child—and boys’ and girls’ active investment in and production of gender and sexuality. Play is a significant arena through which gender and sexuality are both produced and reinforced and critical to the play of gender relations of power. Through play, children learn to take up their places in the complex web of power. Play is both a public display of young sexualities, gender inequalities as well as a display of children’s active agency.