Blüten der Identitätspolitik? Körperbilder und Bilderbuchkörper in der neuen Aufklärungsliteratur für Kinder

A new wave of sex ed books for children has emerged. They swamp the shelfs and window displays of our trusted bookstores. Books about bodies, books about sexuality and reproduction. Those books try to do things differently than their predecessors—to empower children rather than teach them ‘from above’ about anatomy, physiology. And yet they seem rigid at times. Diversity and inclusion have become the dominating aesthetic ideals. In this paper, I argue that even books, who claim that there is no normal, establish new norms that might exclude somebody. They do not represent reality as it is, bodies as they were, but a utopian, highly stylized version of ourselves. After all, the proclaimed attitudes towards our physical bare a much-needed class-consciousness.