Normed Children

Gender- and sex-related norms have an impact on us from the first to the last day of our lives. What are the effects of such norms on the education of children and adolescents? Conveyed via parents/family, school, and peers, they seem to be an inseparable part of human relations. After its favorable reception in German-speaking countries from 2014 onwards, this title is now available in English. The texts show that the traditional assumption of a dualistic, bipolar normativity of sex and gender leads to children being taught gender-typical behavior. The contributions in this volume explore the reasons for these practices and open the debate on the divergence between the prevailing norms and the plurality of different life plans. In addition, the book helps to disengage the topic of sex and gender from a hitherto narrowly circumscribed context of sexual orientation. The contributions point the way towards a culture of respect and mutual acceptance and show new methodological as well as theoretical approaches, e.g. by introducing the figure of the continuum, so that, in future research projects, more than just the two sexes and genders of female and male might be considered as a new normality.

Erik Schneider (Dr. med.) is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist and does freelance work in Luxembourg in the areas of medicine, law, education and ethics. The focal points of his research include criticism of definitions and categories, dynamics and potency of power between medicine, especially psychiatry, law and educational science, including ethical aspects, sex/gender binarity and variations. Christel Baltes-Löhr (Prof. Dr.) is teaching and researching on identities, plurality, migration and gender by focusing on the figure of the continuum, non-binarity, trans* and *inter at Université du Luxembourg. From 2004-2016 she acted there as gender representative, until 2015 as head of the Institute for Gender Studies, Diversity and Migration. From 2006-2018, she represented Luxembourg in the 'EU-Helsinki Group on Women and Science'. From 2016-2018 she was member for Luxembourg in the 'Experts' Forum' of the 'European Institute for Gender Equality' (EIGE). Since 2015, she is member of Luxembourgish National Ethics Committee (C.N.E.).