Girls, boys, and junior sexualities Book

A compelling account of children's negotiation of gender and sexuality. Reynolds' ethnography is rich and powerfully crafted. This is a key text in that is centers and takes seriously children's own experiences, rather than applying adultist framework that position children as "incompetent knowers."

The major weaknesses of the text were an utter lack of POC, queer, and/or trans* identified subjects. While this can in part be traced to the fieldsites chosen, the text was significantly limited nonetheless. While Reynolds' does acknowledge the racial limitations of her research, she does not do the same for sexuality or trans* identity. Disturbingly, she made one comment earlier on that I interpreted as cissexist. As for sexuality, while a key point of analysis was heterosexuality as a compulsory institution, Reynolds seems to take for granted that all of the children are or will come to be heterosexual-identified. She has a brief section on "queering maculinities," but I would have appreciated greater attention to queerness throughout, or at least an acknowledgement of this limitations.

Nonetheless, this is a fascinating read, and an important intervention into childhood and gender studies. Highly recommended.