The Sex Appeal of Diapers...

Yes, that's right. Take it off, baby. Take off that dirty diaper. Yes. Yes!

Okay, that's an exageration and I am well aware of it. I use it, however, to point out how extremely daft the sexual segregation that exists in the field of early childhood education is. Early childhood education you say? Well, that's the term for what preschool teachers actually do, preschool teachers versus mere babysitters. A babysitter makes sure the child doesn't fall down the stairs or get a diaper rash. An early childhood educator tracks and improves language and motor development, social skills, and early academics such as vocabulary expansion, noun naming (colors, shapes, animals, etc), and pre-reading skills. And this field is populated by 99.9% women. Which means that, correspondingly, the field is among the lowest paid professions across the board. And without going into that gender/salary divide too greatly (for such is not the subject of my rant today), many preschool teachers accept that because their own children are close by, they receive discounts on their child's care, they only need a supplement to their partner's income, and/or they were not born in this country and it is an easy field to work in with the qualifications of only the love in your heart for children.

But I would absolutely love to see a man in the classroom. As would a lot of the single mother, rather lonely ladies that work around me, I am sure, but me for not purely visual reasons. We had just such a man apply to work at my school this last week, to fill the position that I am leaving in fact. I got to meet him as he spent about an hour in our classroom and he seemed very attentive, eager to get down on the children's level to interact, and caring. Yes, a little gay too, of course. Everyone asks that. He also had six years of experience in the classroom with infants and toddlers. Yet immediately, I heard about the issue of him being a man.

First of all, I was asked wasn't it illegal for a man to be changing diapers like that or to be in the potty alone with a 2-3 year-old that was learning to use the bathroom? No, not illegal. Wouldn't a lot of our parents have a problem with a man doing such things with their child? I should hope not. Doesn't Daddy do it at home? But, it's okay because he's gay, right? Or, is it worse, because so much child molestation seems to be of the male-male variety?

Geez. How stereotypical can we get, ladies and gents? Are we saying that any naked person, girl or boy, of any age, brings up purely sexual feelings in the male? That the only reason a man would want to be that close to a child would be a dirty, deviant, sexual one? That we cannot trust a man to be around any kid without supervision from a woman? And this stereotype not only hurts men but us women too and doubly so. This sort of attitude only perpetuates the idea that the job of child rearing is a female one. That caring for kids cannot be trusted, cannot be taught to men. It means that we women will always be changing the diapers, will always be singing our ABC's, will always be the ones cleaning up puke, potty training, and the ones in early childhood education. The field will always be underpaid and under-respected--meaning that, well, big deal, it comes naturally to women and they just sit around all day playing with kids, which is what their genes teach them to do anyway. How much skill does that take, changing dirty diapers and singing songs?

I for one hope that this gentleman who interviewed gets the position. That is, if he passes his background check and fingerprint clearance, has his CPR and First Aid certifications and his references check out, just like all the rest of us. I want my kiddies is good hands when I leave and, if those are a man's hands, it shouldn't make any difference. It's a demanding job that requires patience, creativity, love and empathy. Any person who has all of that and wants to share it with children, with the future and it willing to exchange it for peanuts plus hugs an hour deserves respect and encouragement. Not suspicion and derision just because he happens to have a penis. (I am assuming. That's not really part of the interview process.)