Education Towards Differences: Preventing Gender and Sex Discriminations in Subjects in the Age of Development

Abstract

The present contribution addresses the issue of preventing and combating gender and sex discrimination in subjects in the age of development and, specifically, children. In our society, characterized by an ideological sexist, genderist and heterocentric matrix, identities that cannot placed within the socially constructed and accepted stereotypes of normality are – often – victims of abuses and they are denied equal treatment. In order to raise awareness of the need to respect personal and social differences, more and more initiatives are being created aimed at promoting a non-discriminatory attitude towards gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, non-conforming and queer people. Among such initiatives, the construction and narration of stories for children explaining the concepts inherent in the culture of differences, are a valid tool for fostering a climate and a cultural structure free of gender and sex stigmatization and instead aiming at enhancing “difference”, considering it a positive possibility just like socially-accepted states. The essay, after a brief description of the characteristics of language, attitudes and relationship with reality in subjects in the age of development, examines the methodological and ethical approach to be used with children, so as to allow them to understand the possibility of different forms of identity and otherness. Preventing and countering prejudices arising from beliefs and social models that help in reproducing every day, in civil society, discriminations, harassment, and unequal treatment against many people, represents a mission to create and reproduce an inclusive and democratic society.