A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PRESERVICE TEACHERS' EFFORTS TO MAKE SENSE OF YOUNG CHILDREN'S SEXUAL ACTS TOWARDS ADULTS

This study explored Turkish early childhood education teacher candidates' efforts to make sense of sexual behaviors of both young girls and boys towards them or their colleagues during their field experience or in their daily experiences with young children. Semi-structred interviews with 13 female teacher candidates revealed that their perception of young children as "innocent beings," their education that emphasize teachers' responsibility to cultivate curiosity in children, and their position in the hegemonic heterosexual world make these teacher candidates to avoid naming sexual acts of young children as harassment; blame their friends who were the target of those acts; tend to find other explanations for children's sexual acts rather than seeing children as sexual beings; and see sexual harassment as something women actually can enjoy.