A feminist poststructuralist study of children “doing” gender in an urban kindergarten classroom

Critical discourse analysis found five gender discourses located in the classroom, including wearing femininity, body movements, make-up, beauty, and fashion talk. From this analysis, it was possible to uncover the heterosexual matrix within the kindergarten classroom and construct three case studies. Case studies show how two girls and one boy used their understandings of heterosexuality to “do” gender as they actively maintained and resisted gender norms and ideals.