User:Kgaroian/sandbox

Egalia Preschool is a publicly-funded educational institution in the Sodermalm district of Stockholm, Sweden. Egalia is a controversial preschool that gained international attention in June 2011 regarding its mission to eliminate gender roles in its classrooms. Egalia’s enrollment of approximately 30 students aged one to six are taught using a gender neutral curriculum (1). Egalia emphasizes a hands-off approach to gender identity development, allowing children to freely express their desires without social and gender ramifications. The Swedish pronouns “han” (he) and “hon” (she) are replaced with the genderless pronoun “hen" (2). Students are otherwise addressed by first name, or in larger groups as “friends” or “buddies” (1). Toys are arranged in a manner to encourage students to play freely, without drawing parallels between traditionally male or female toys; for example, Legos, blocks, and trucks are strategically placed next to the play kitchen. Egalia’s attempts to normalize historically stigmatized homosexuality and perceived differences by adopting literature devoid of heterosexual relationships. Heterosexual relationships in fairytales like Cinderella are replaced with genderless characters so as not to perpetuate gender stereotypes (2). Similarly, students are encouraged, if they so desire, to have multiple “moms” or “dads” when they engage in family role-playing games. Egalia emerged from a liberal Swedish society and is backed by the Green Party of Sweden (1).