What does queer theory/pedagogy have to offer early childhood educators?
Queer theory, which stems from poststructuralist theoretical perspectives, reinforces the notion that identities are not fixed or stable, but rather are shifting, contradictory, dynamic and constructed. This perspective upholds that all identities are performances, and challenges normalising practices, particularly in terms of sexuality and the heteronormative constructions of gender, which has been the focus of this paper. It challenges the unquestionable, natural and normal positioning of heterosexuality as the superior sexuality and the ‘othering’ of non-heterosexual identities, which is constituted within the cultural binary heterosexual us–homosexual them (see Jagose, 1996). The term ‘queer’ encompasses those who feel ‘marginalized by mainstream sexuality’ (Morris, 2000, p. 20), including those who see themselves as heterosexual but challenge the conformity constituted and enforced in hegemonic discourses of heterosexuality. Ultimately, queer theory disrupts the notion that one’s