Bilder av barns sexualitet - var går gränsen för barns medborgarskap? : En diskursanalys av pedagogers samtal om barn och sexualitet i förskolan

The purpose of this study is to investigate the image of the contemporary child as citizen in relation to the issue of childrens sexuality in a preschool context. This is an attempt to capture the complexity that teachers have to deal with in order to provide protection and care, and at the same time encurage/support childrens' own areas of interest and promote their actorship. In line with a qualitative methodological approach there were focus group discussions conducted among four different groups of teachers to see what understandings they were collectively constructing for children in relation to sexuality. These conversations where analyzed using Foucaults three strategies for subjectification (Foucault 1982), and a discourse theoretically informed discourse analysis (Winter Joergensson & Phillips 2000). To meet the purpose there were three research questions asked: What concepts and reasoning are used to describe children and childrens sexuality? Is there variations in these descriptions – how do these appear? And how is this motivated? When and how are limits set for the image of the child as citizen in relation to childrens sexuality in preschool? It turns out that the limits set for the child as citizen in relation to sexuality primarily is about what Foucault (1976/2002) describes as sexuality as tied to a place, that sexuality is to be understood as something private. The children in the pedagogical practice described in the conversations are always under supervision, and since the children have materialised the norms around sexuality as tied to a place, the pedagogical environment constitutes a limit. Another limit set for the contemporary child can be traced to the concept of risk. The teachers have to deal with different risks in their practice, and therefore the opportunity for children to be naked or unsupervised within the practice is foreclosed. Yet another limit concerns the respect for parents. It is sustained by the idea of sexuality as tied to a place and delegate the power to the parents in questions regarding childrens sexuality. One limit concerns the view of childrens' sexuality as separate from adults', where the child is constructed within a developmental psycological discourse which turns into a limit for the contemporary child as it is displayed as a model for a normal child. Finally there is also a limit set that has to do with the teachers responsibility to protect the child in relation to other children