Browsing by Author "Routakorpi, Liisa"

The purpose of this Bachelor’s thesis is to illustrate, analyse and interpret how sexual and gender diversity are presented in the fifth grade biology textbooks. The viewpoint to the examination is formed by studying where in textbooks heteronormativity may occur. It is also examined how heteronormativity has been tried to dismantle. In the field of pedagogy, the study positions oneself in the region of sexual education and the study also makes use of the frame of reference of feministic research. This case study is qualitative nature and made by using theory based content analysis as a research method. The data of this study comprises the fifth grade biology textbooks published after the national curriculum reform 2004 and their chapters about puberty, reproduction and interpersonal relationship. The data comprises of a total of 52 pages The conclusion of the analysis was that the textbooks´ image of gender underlines biological and medical view. On the basis of the research results shows that the textbooks do not deal with sexual or gender diversity. Nevertheless, sexual diversity can be seen for example in the use of gender-neutral expressions. Gender and sexual minorities however are not directly mentioned or dealt with. On the basis of the research results it can be deduced that hetero and gender normativity occurs in the textbooks and that they maintain old-fashioned view of gender and sexuality.