Browsing by Author "Hyyrynen, Birgitta"

In this masters thesis, I examine the presence of the diversity of gender and sexuality in middle school health information textbooks. Drawing mainly on the theories of philosopher and feminist theorist Judith Butler, I analyze the language used in the books to understand how gender and sexuality are constructed and represented. Through a discourse analysis, I am looking to answer to the following questions: What kind of sexualities and genders appear as norms in middle school textbooks? In what ways and in which contexts is the diversity of gender displayed in middle school textbooks? I have selected health information books from three different book series, which have been used in teaching at the same time, as material for the thesis. In my analysis, I found five discourses in the research data. The dichotomous and heteronormative discourse created the assumption of a heterosexual, binary student. Discourses emphasizing similarity and difference described diversity in textbooks. Minority discourse appeared in textual selections where gender and sexual minorities were described as one similar group. My research results show that there is an urgent call for acknowledging equality and diversity in the study materials as a base for teachers and teaching.