| Summary: | This article draws on research carried out at the School of Education, University of Iceland. First year teacher students were asked to document their first memories of being girls or boys. The findings show that 82 out of 126 students’ anecdotes involved communications with school personnel in pre-, elementary, and lower secondary schools. The narratives indicate that the students went from believing that they were free to adopt any type of gender identity they chose, to accepting that the choice was limited to the type which was seen as acceptable by the dominant discourse for their gender. This process was characterized first by optimism, second by disappointment, and finally, after a long lasting struggle against gender cues and gendered messages, by resignation. The authors contend that teacher educators could benefit from exploring students’ narratives in their efforts to remediate this situation. This article draws on research carried out at the School of Education, University of Iceland. First year teacher students were asked to document their first memories of being girls or boys. The findings show that 82 out of 126 students’ anecdotes involved communications with school personnel in pre-, elementary, and lower secondary schools. The narratives indicate that the students went from believing that they were free to adopt any type of gender identity they chose, to accepting that the choice was limited to the type which was seen as acceptable by the dominant discourse for their gender. This process was characterized first by optimism, second by disappointment, and finally, after a long lasting struggle against gender cues and gendered messages, by resignation. The authors contend that teacher educators could benefit from exploring students’ narratives in their efforts to remediate this situation.
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