平等幼兒園：瑞典學前班刻意“模糊”性別

There are no boys and girls at a new school in Stockholm, just "friends." Is this the cutting edge of gender equality, or just "silly"?

At Egalia, everyone is a "friend." The news-making preschool in Stockholm is fighting gender stereotypes by banning the use of gender pronouns in the school, instead referring to all students as "friends." Is this bold move creating a gender-neutral "nirvana," or "gender madness?" Here, a brief guide:

What is Egalia?

Egalia is a taxpayer-funded school in the Sodermalm district of Stockholm, Sweden. The school has incorporated a gender-free pedagogy, operating under the theory that by eliminating any reference to gender, the students won't fall prey to the stereotyping of gender roles. "Society expects girls to be girlie, nice and pretty, and boys to be manly, rough and outgoing," says one of the school's teacher's, Jenny Johnson, as quoted by Britain's Daily Mail. "Egalia gives them a fantastic opportunity to be whoever they want to be."

How do the kids talk to each other?

For starters, there are no boys and girls in Egalia, just "friends." That's the term teachers in the school use to address all students. In addition, the staff refrains from using the pronouns "him" or "her." Instead, the gender labels, which are "han" and "hon" in Swedish, are replaced by the "genderless" pronoun "hen" — a word that doesn't actually exist in the Swedish language.

They use a made-up word?

Yep. For example, when a doctor or plumber is coming into the classroom, "we don't know if it's a he or a she, so we just say, 'Hen is coming around 2 p.m.," says director Lotta Rajalin, as quoted by the Associated Press. "Then the children can imagine both a man or a woman. This widens their view."

What about playtime?

Lego blocks are stored directly next to kitchen and cooking toys, so as not to encourage gender preference through toy storage and organization. There are no squabbles over who gets to play mommy in a game of house, either. If one girl has already claimed the role, "then we suggest two moms or three moms and so on," says Rajalin. And don't expect to find gender-promoting fairy tales on the bookshelves, either. Snow White and Cinderella are nixed in favor of books featuring gay and lesbian couples, single parents, and adopted children, says CNN.

Umm... is this really a good idea?

Parents in Sweden seem to be fans. Not only is there a waiting list to get into Egalia, but "only one family has dropped out," says Erin Anderssen at Canada's The Globe and Mail. And according to a 2010 World Economic Forum report, Sweden leads the world when it comes to gender equality. The country is also widely considered a pioneer when it comes to gay and lesbian rights.

Does everyone agree?

Well, no. "It sounds like a load of manure to me," says Jeanne Sager at The Stir. No matter how much Egalia tries to hide gender norms within its walls, the truth is that outside them, they do exist. "It's still going to have to be dealt with." One Swedish mother agrees. "Different gender roles aren't problematic as long as they are equally valued," says Tanja Bergkvist, as quoted by the Associated Press. And in the end, says Meredith Carroll at Babble, Egalia may be confusing gender neutrality with gender equality. We should "celebrate the differences between the genders," not push for a "homogenized society." Eliminating gender-specific pronouns altogether is both "confusing and silly."在斯德哥爾摩的一所新學校裏，沒有“男生”和“女生”，只有“朋友”，這是性別平等的先鋒潮流，還是一次“傻兮兮”的嘗試？

據《The week》雜誌報道，在平等幼兒園（Egalia），每個人都被稱爲“朋友”。斯德哥爾摩的這家新辦幼兒園希望能消除對性別的刻板印象，禁止在校內使用性別代稱，而是把所有學生稱作“朋友”。這樣一個大膽的嘗試究竟是在創造一箇中平等的世界，還是在製造性別混亂？在這裏，先做一個簡單的介紹。

什麼是平等幼兒園？

平等幼兒園是瑞典斯德哥爾摩馬爾姆區的一家公立幼兒園。這家幼兒園採取模糊性別的教學方法，希望通過消除有關性別的所有指稱來避免讓學生形成對性別角色的固有印象。據英國《每日郵報》報道，“社會希望女孩子像個女孩子，漂漂亮亮，男孩子像個男孩子，堅強外向，”學校的一位老師珍妮•約翰遜說：“在平等幼兒園，孩子們可以成爲自己想成爲的人，在這裏，他們有很好的機會。”

在這裏孩子們如何稱呼彼此？

首先，這裏沒有“男生”“女生”的說法，只有“朋友”，老師們把學生們都叫作“朋友”。然後，老師們不會使用瑞典語裏表示“他”或“她”的“han”和“hon”，而是造了一個詞——沒有性別含義的“hen”。

他們造了一個詞？

是的。舉個例子，如果有醫生或是管道工要來，“我們不知道是他還是她，就會用hen，'hen兩點左右來'。”據美聯社報道，園長洛塔•拉吉林說，“孩子們就會猜來的可能是男人可能是女人。這樣能擴大他們的思維面。”

孩子們玩的時候呢？

樂高玩具就放在廚房玩具旁邊，通過玩具的收納來避免性別偏向。玩過家家的時候，我們也不限定只由女生來扮演媽媽。如果已經有女生想扮媽媽，“我們就會鼓勵可以再來一個兩個媽媽。”拉吉林說。另外，園內也沒有性別區分導向明顯的童話書。《白雪公主》和《灰姑娘》是被禁止的，倒是有同性伴侶、單親父母和領養兒童這些元素的書籍，CNN報道。

嗯，這樣真的好嗎？

瑞典的家長們似乎很支持。有一批家長排隊要把孩子送進這所幼兒園，而且“只有一家退學了，”加拿大《環球郵報》的艾琳•安德森說。根據2010年世界經濟論壇的報告，在性別平等這方面瑞典做得比其他國家都要好。在同性戀權益方面瑞典也是公認的先驅。

所有人都支持嗎？

也不是。“這個主意在我看來就是一坨屎，”The Stir博客的珍•塞及說。不論平等幼兒園如何試圖避免性別詞彙，這些詞在園外都還是真實存在的。“還是需要去面對性別區分的，”一位媽媽表示贊同。“只要男性女性的價值是被平等看待的，性別角色其實不是什麼問題，”博客作家坦婭•柏克維斯特說道（美聯社報道）。Babble的美瑞狄斯•卡洛爾認爲，平等幼兒園這樣做是混淆了性別中性與性別平等，我們應該“歡慶性別之間的差異”，而不是促成一個“單一性別的社會”，消除性別詞彙“又傻又亂”。