Title: The frightening subject: child sexuality – a qualitative interview study about a few preschool teachers approach to child sexuality. Author: Linda Olsson Mentor: Victoria Kawesa

Term: autumn of 2015

The purpose of this study is to investigate how child sexuality is imagined and understood according to the experiences and knowledge of four different preschool teachers. My main focus lied within finding out how preschool teachers approach the subject by asking them to share their experiences of children’s sexual behaviors.

This is a qualitative study and the method used to collect the material was interviews. Four preschool teachers were asked to participate in my study. The theoretical approach in this independent work is social constructivism, and an intersectional perspective is used to analyze the results. The interviews are analyzed from a discourse analysis point of view, which means that my conclusions are based on my interpretations of how the informants in the study talk about and react to the subject.

My main conclusions are that the different preschool teachers in my study treats the subject in different ways, and the approach towards children’s sexual expressions is handled in many various ways. All of the participating informants agreed that more education about child sexuality is needed. Another conclusion that my study confirms is that the subject is hard to talk about, among teachers, between teachers and parents and among children and grown ups.

Keywords: Children’s sexual behaviors, preschool, social constructivism, child masturbation, approach to sexual behaviors

Nyckelord: Barns sexuella uttryck, förskola, socialkonstruktivism, barnonani, förhållningssätt till sexuella uttryck