This is a very interesting question asked of heterosexuals. It is a different perspective all the way around. I remember a friend of mine, who is a gay man, what it was like for him growing up? I remember seeing the pain in his eyes when he told me the story of being very attracted to the same boys in the class that the girls were, and being so confused. That he was so uncomfortable in his own skin. How difficult it was when the boys would be talking about the girls in his class and looking at pictures that were sneaked out of their father's garage of nakes women. He had to pretend to be as aroused as the boys were.
Another dear friend of mine shared how confusing it was for her that while all the girls in her classes were looking forward to wearing dresses and looking pretty for the boys, she agonized at the thought and was even sickened by the idea that she would have to wear a dress.
For both of my friends they knew very early on that their desires and understanding of who they were was not in keeping with the majority. It was then that I began to look at each of my students in a very different way. I no longer assumed that every little girl liked little boys and every boy was desiring to be around girls. In fact, I was very careful to not force homogeneous grouping gender as there may have been a reason why some children were as uncomfortable with being with the same gender as some heterosexual children were with being with heterogeneous grouping.
Just a thought...Thank you Chris Baker and Rebecca Eisenberg
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