VDM Jaehui, Y: "Girls Can Do Firefighter Play If They Want"

By observing gender as social construction, I uncovered three constructions of girlhood in one Korean kindergarten class. They are appearance-based girlish girlhood, oppositional girlhood, and heteronormative girlhood. The emerging girlhoods in Ms. Jung's class were discursively constructed in relation to the three imperative ideas about being a girl that pervaded the girls' everyday classroom experience. Although the three constructions are relevant to different aspects of life for a young Korean girl, they are not mutually exclusive or competitive. First, appearance-based girlish girlhood is constituted by and constitutes girls' bodies and bodily practices by correctly signifying their gender. Oppositional girlhood manifests itself in girls' everyday endeavors to maintain the legitimacy of the gender binary. Finally, heteronormative girlhood is a reflection of the pervasiveness of heteronormativity in Korean society at large.