Masculinity and Femineity Part 2

RESPECT, DIVERSITY,
INCLUSION
Definitions (recap)

Masculinity: qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of

men.

1. What qualities/characteristics do you associate with men?

Femininity: qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of

women.

2. What qualities/characteristics do you associate with women?

Definitions (recap) 3

Stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or

idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Discrimination: the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different

categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, sex,
or disability.
Examples of stereotypes can
include the following:
 Asian people are good at mathematics
 People who wear spectacles are intelligent
 Girls should play with dolls and boys should play with
trucks
 Boys should be led to like blue and green
 Girls should be led to like red and pink
 Boys should not wear dresses or other clothes typically
associated with "girls’ clothes“
 Masculine girls are boys or feminine boys are girls

NONE OF THE ABOVE STATEMENTS ARE BASED ON

TRUE FACTS
 Examples of prejudice can
include the following:

Racism, sexism as well as LGBTQI+ based,

disability-based, religion-based, and weight-
based prejudices.

Example 1: Not being friends with students who

belong to the Muslim community because of
their religion

Example 2: Saying people with physical

disabilities do not belong in your school
 Examples of discrimination
can include the following:

This is when people deliberately/intentionally hurt you by

treating you differently using things they say or do to you
because of your race, gender, disability, nationality and
religion.

Example 1: Someone saying hurtful

things or attacking you repeatedly
because you are different from them

Example 2: Being made fun of and

excluded (left out)
 Let us
reflect
Have you treated other students in your school/grade
differently by using stereotypes, prejudice or
discriminating against them?

Why did you do this ?

How did this make the other student feel?

What would you change about what you did?

What can you do to become a better RDI Ally?

Watch the video in the link below
 Class Task
You have 15 minutes to read the scenarios and to choose ONE of the scenarios to prepare for your role play

Get into groups of four to five students and do the following:

 1) Identify the problem: what is being said or done that is hurtful or problematic in each scenario you read?

 2) Identify who is involved: the target, the perpetrator(s), the bystander(s) and the “upstander” if there is one.

 3) Consider the consequences for all the people in the scenario if no one intervenes, and how your scenario
will end.

 4) Prepare a short skit (five minutes maximum) and decide on the ending/outcome of your scenario.

 5) The ending/outcome of your scenario must solve the problem in the scenario you choose. I.E, think of
realistic/actionable solutions/ways to tackle the problems they face.
 Class
Task Remember the following:
 While it can be fun to act out scenarios, the goal is to think carefully about the harm inflicted in
these scenarios and to develop realistic and practical ways to prevent and address them.

 Avoid stereotyping the characters – in accents, physical manner, or words used. Be as realistic and
authentic as possible.

 Avoid showing characters as being unable to take any action to address the situation.

 These things happen to real people. It is important to try to feel empathy for how the people in the
scenario might feel about what is happening.
 Scenario 1:

Tendai is a new student in your classroom. His appearance is feminine,

and he sometimes wears lipstick or other makeup when the teachers do
not notice. When he goes to the toilet, the other boys ridicule him and
sometimes push him and make him fall. During class, one of the teachers
makes a comment on the new student’s appearance in front of all his
classmates. The teacher even seeks approval from the classmates to get
validation and they all approve except for one student who says that it is
the right of every student to choose how they want to look. Tendai is
relieved to have a friend.

Characters: Tendai, the teacher, the classmates who giggle and the
classmate who is supportive
 Scenario 2:

Jason has a lot of friends who are girls in his school. All of his
male classmates are jealous and think that he is gay as he
never hangs out with boys. When they see Jason alone at
school, in the school playground or outside of the classroom,
they trip him or try to pull his shorts down. Jason wants to go
and tell the principal, but he is afraid he will be told it is his
fault for not being “one of the boys”. He decides to go to the
principal.

Characters: Jason, the classmates who are bothering him, the

principal
 Scenario 3:

Jessica is standing in line getting lunch in the cafeteria. Two of

Jessica’s friends, Anan and Siya, walk up to Jessica and start
giving her a hard time about her new haircut, telling Jessica
“none of the boys are going to like you anymore” and using
other rude statements. Cafeteria staff members, Mrs McGee
and Tamara overhear these comments to Jessica.

Characters: Jessica, Anan, Siya, Mrs McGee, Tamara and other

students nearby
 Scenario 4:

Yumna is a grade 7 pupil who does not match the sexual stereotypes that
are often used to define how girls should behave and what they should
look like. She enjoys playing touch rugby with her boy friends at school
while most girls play sports that are not “rough”. Yumna is often teased a
lot by the other girls and called names – she is often referred to as a
tomboy and whenever she goes to the girls’ toilet – other girls tell her to
go to the boys’ toilet because she's a boy.

Characters: Yumna, other students (boys and girls)

 What were the different kinds of bullying that young people were
experiencing in these scenarios? (Physical, social, verbal, sexual and
cyberbullying)
(Have students referred to the different characters when
Questions to discuss explaining different types of bullying?)

after the role plays

What was the impact on the person experiencing the bullying? What
about bystanders or the person doing the bullying? (You could also
ask participants how they felt during the role play, starting with
those who played the roles of the person being bullied.)

In which scenarios did someone intervene? Who was it and what did
they do? (Remind students that the person who is targeted could
respond; a “bystander” may decide to help or intervene; or an
ally or “upstander” could do so something.)