Sex Drugs and Stereotypes
at the Tea Party!
Pillar: Responsibility
(Sex, Drugs, and Stereotypes created by: NYU)
(Tea Party created by: Cortland RA Conference)
Objective:
-Understand what stereotypes are how they are just perceptions not always the
truth
-That we are not only the victim but guilty of stereotyping
-That our minds work with stereotypes to identify our surroundings
-How to
Time to Do the Program needed: Program Time: 1 1/2 Hours
-Ice Breaker-5 Minutes
-Instruction-5Minutes
-Activity1-30 minutes
-Discussion-10 minutes
-Activity 2-25 Minutes
-Discussion-10 minutes
-Question/ Answer-5 Minutes
Supplies Needed:
-String
-Little slips of paper with roles
(See Below for handouts and roles)
Activities
Part 1- Sex, Drugs, and Stereotypes:
First make a list of typical stereotypes, and then you can make some campus
specific ones so you can personalize the program.
Example: Nerd, Slut, Player, Hippie…
You'll need a ball of yarn and some scissors. Once you have everyone together, have
them stand in a circle and close their eyes. Preface the program by saying that it might
rub people the wrong way, and that you ask that no one reacts to the stereotypes. To
actually run the program, you ask one person to start, and that person opens their eyes.
You then say a stereotype, and the person who has their eyes open looks around the circle
and quietly points to the person that they think fits that stereotype. You then give one end
of the yarn to the person who started, and string it over to the person to whom they
pointed. The person who started then closes their eye, and you tap the person who you are
giving the string to, they open their eyes, you say a stereotype, and do the process all over
again.
After a good amount of time of creating a web/ when everyone has one, you then ask
them to open their eyes and look at the foundation for the relationships they have made.
Then you ask those who do not fit their stereotype to raise their hands. You cut the cords
that represent the false stereotypes. Hopefully, only a few cords will remain, and then you
talk about the conclusions made.
Activity 1-Discussion Questions:
1)-What does the web symbolize?
2)-How did you feel about being victim of Stereotyping?
3)-How did you feel having to stereotype others?
4)-How do you know perceive stereotypes?
Part 2-A SPOT OF DIVERSI-TEA
di-ver-si-ty [di-vur-si-tee] 1. The state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness. 2.
Variety; multiformority. 3. A point of difference
People come in all shapes, sizes, colors, religions, and backgrounds. Being in
Residence Life, we need to be aware of the differences among the students that we
supervise as well as our fellow Resident Assistants. It is important to be sensitive to the
diverse halls; we could inadvertently alienate our residents and fellow RA’s.
This program, Diversi-Tea, is a way to experience personalities and different
ways of life that you would normally never experience. This is a safe place and we ask
you to really get into your roles. It is okay to be politically incorrect, racist, sexiest, loud
and over the top as some of the roles call for that. Things that are said within this space
will stay within this place. The more you get into your role, the more we will all get out
of the program.
All of you were chosen to make a trip on the Queen’s yacht. Some were chosen
because of your experiences, some won your trip, and others were invited because of
your experiences, some won your trip, and others were invited because of your personal
relationship with the Queen. We ask that you get to know the people at your table; ask
them questions about themselves and be open to share about yourself as well. If you feel
the need the need, get up and mingle with the other guests around the room. Try to meet
and speak to as many people as you like and please, enjoy your tea.
-Everyone is given a slip of paper explaining their role. Please follow it as best as
you can.
*Adapted from SUNY Cortland RA Conference presentation by students from CIA*
Discussion Questions for Activity:
1)-How did you know how to act to get your role across?
2)-How did you feel taking on this new persona/ what were the challenges
3)-What did this teach you about stereotypes?
This program demonstrates:
-Our perceptions of stereotypes and how we have been socialized
-That we are victims and are guilty of stereotyping
Table 1
ROLES!
Harry
Rapist
After raping a 26 year old woman that you met in a dark ally, you were arrested, found
guilty and served 10 years in jail. The rape was a violent rape and you left her for dead.
However, you feel that prison helped you realize your problem and that you are
completely “rehabilitated”. You feel that this mistake will forever affect your life,
because people will always look at you as a rapist. You suffer from a great deal of
depression.
Thomas
Lutheran Minister
You feel that God Has blessed you by showing you the path to ministry. You have been a
preacher for three years. You were married, but your wife died during child labor and you
have decided to raise your daughter on your own and never re-marry. Instead you pour
much of your life into your work. You believe in the literal teachings of the bible and feel
that homosexuality is against Christian teachings.
Robert
Atheist
You are not religious at all. You actually despise organized religion. You feel that many
people fall into the trappings of religion to satisfy their insecurities and curiosities about
what happens to them when they die. You feel that it is a stupid reason to be involved in a
religious organization that you view as a “cult”. You feel that when you die, you die….its
that simple. So you live life to its potential. You value your time on earth and with the
people you meet. You are never sure when your time might end, so you take advantage of
your life while you can.
Renee
Man Hating Lesbian
Growing up, you always felt different. You never understood why. You always down
played your feelings towards other woman as a “phase” or something you would grow
out of. While attending college you met other people with the same feeling you had, but
were still afraid to realize them. You tried dating men, but never really felt attracted to
men sexually. One night while at a party, you were raped by a male that you had been
dating. Feeling completely violated you developed this hatred toward men.
Kandi
Prostitute
At the age of 16 you had a child. In order to support your child you worked as a
prostitute. This has also exposed you to drugs, diseases, and other dangerous situations.
You have been raped several times and nearly killed about five times. Because you
dropped out of high school and never attended college you feel that there is little hope for
you to find another job.
Jessica
Cancer Survivor
At the age of 21, you were diagnosed with cervical cancer. After a series of tests, it was
determined that the cancer was caused from HPV. You contracted HPV (an STD) at the
age of 18 from sexual intercourse. You rarely went to the gynecologist and when you did
it was an inpatient clinic that suffered from budget cuts and would only do an internal
exam and not a pap smear. By the time you were 21 you had your first pap smear and it
was determined that you were found to have late stage cancer. You have undergone many
surgeries to remove the cancer by scraping layers of your cervix away. You recently
found out that there is no trace of cancer and the doctors are hopeful that it will not come
back. Now that there is a vaccine for HPV, you have become very vocal about young preteen women being vaccinated for HPV.
Sarah
Christian Missionary
Growing up in a traditional home, your family raised you in the church. You believe that
throughout your life you have been blessed by god and believe that the only way into
heaven is to have the love of Jesus in your heart. You believe that homosexuality,
premarital sex, adultery, and abortion go against the teachings of Christ. You believe that
the only way sinners can get into heaven is through repenting their sins to Jesus. You are
very vocal about your beliefs and have been accused of “pushing your beliefs” onto
others. You have touched many lives through your mission work.
Mike
Dying from Cancer
About 5 years ago you were diagnosed with testicular cancer. Being too embarrassed to
talk about it or get it checked you simply over looked it. The cancer soon spread and the
doctors have given you only 5 months to live. The cruise is something you always wanted
to do, and it will probably be your last cruise. You are very optimistic in life and have
tried to keep positive energy around you in the last months of your life. You still feel that
there is hope that you can beat this, despite the odds that you probably will not.
Table 2
Sandra
Bi-racial marriage with Marcus
Despite what your family said, you fell in love with and married Marcus. He is a great
guy. You don’t seem to understand why people discriminate against you because he is
white and you are black. You have two beautiful children together and both have great
jobs.
Tasha
Black racist woman
While in school, you were a victim of sexual assault by a white male from a predominate
family. Because you came from a working-class family, you felt no one would believe
you. Instead you developed this hatred towards white people, males in particular.
Kristine
Male to Female Post-Op Transgender Woman
After years of feeling that you do not belong in your own body, you decided to go
through with re-assignment surgery. You were born as Christopher to a traditional family.
Throughout your life you never felt that you identified as a male. You knew that on the
inside you were male, but on the inside you felt completely female. So after many years
of therapy and hormone treatments, you decided to go through with surgery to make you
anatomically female to match the way you feel inside. However, this decision is likely to
have you spend the rest of your life alone, since many transgender people never marry or
find love.
Bruce
Homosexual Male
For the past 4 years you have lived with your partner. You are a very friendly person.
Coming out was very difficult for you, but in the end you feel that it was the best decision
for you. Even to this day, however, you still get uncomfortable about your sexuality when
you are around homophobic people.
Daisy
Wealthy Harvard Graduate
You currently work as a consultant for your own small consulting practice. You also are a
professor of micro-biology. Your passion and most of your research deals with an HIV
vaccine. You have been working on a vaccine for HIV/AIDS for three years now. Having
a brother that is gay, you are very open to homosexuality as well. You understand that
HIV is not a “gay disease”, but you feel that your work with HIV has improved your
relationship with the gay community. Your very open to all people and feel that if we
work together we could one day combat this terrible disease.
Allan
Person living with HIV
When you were 15 years old, you contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. You grew up
in a very conservative family and view HIV as the gay disease. You feel that if it were
not for gay people you would have never contracted HIV to begun with. You have a low
T-cell count and are doing well with your medication.
Marcus
Bi-racial Marriage with Sandra
When you married Sandra, most of your family disowned you. They do not understand
why you would want to marry one of “those people”. However, you love Sandra for who
she is, not what color her skin is. You have been in a loving relationship with Sandra for
several months now.
Jake--White Supremacist--You feel that all other races, other than the white race, should
be eradicated from earth. You also feel that black people bring down the “moral fibers of
society”. You have a very good job as an accountant for a construction company.
Table 3
Felice
Feminist
You have always had a passion for women’s rights. While in college you were president
of FMLA (Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance). You feel women still struggle to
overcome many of the stigmas and stereotypes associated with them. You work for a
national organization to combat sexist practices throughout the country. You loath males
that think a woman’s role is barefoot and pregnant or in the kitchen.
Jane
Married Alcoholic with Children
Growing up, it was apparent that your father was an alcoholic. He would drink, become
violent, and then take his aggression out on anymore or anything that was close by. You
swore to never be like your father, but now years later you are more like him than you are
willing to admit. You started drinking while in high school and have been drinking ever
since. You have always been good at hiding your alcohol addiction, but at this point it has
become so severe that you are about to lose people in your life that are important to you,
including your husband and children.
Jason
Male Chauvinist
You feel that a woman should be barefoot and pregnant or in a kitchen. You feel that
women should be subservient to men. You father was the head of the household and your
mother did everything that he wanted. Therefore, you believe that is how all families
should be.
Jimmy
Recovering Alcoholic
This is 10th Anniversary of Sobriety. Born to alcoholic parents, you should have known
that you would be at risk for alcoholism. You understand that it is a disease and the only
way for you to combat that disease is to simply not drink. You feel obligated to defend
alcoholics on one level, but also help them find the path of sobriety on another level.
Bo-bo
Magician and Circus Clown
As a child you were always happy and bubbly. You decided to take that enthusiasm into
consideration when you began working as a circus clown. You feel your entire purpose in
life is to help people laugh and have fun. You are loving what you do and look forward to
years of making people happy.
Sherri
Victim of Domestic Violence
You recently left your husband and now have a restraining order on him. Friends and
family felt that it would be good for you to get away, so you decided to take this cruise.
Your husband was a very nice man, but when he would drink alcohol he became violent.
After enduring his violent behavior and alcoholism for five years, you had to get out.
While you don’t believe in divorce, you felt you had no other options at this point. You
still fear for your life.
Cynthia
Suffers from Depression
After years of trauma and the loss of both your parents you have suffered for depression
for most of your life. You currently take medication to help, but you don’t like the way
the medication makes you feel and therefore sometimes refuse to take it. You usually
need to hit rock bottom you decide to take it again.
Table 4
Susan
Child Molester
For the past 2 years you have been involved in what you consider to be a loving
relationship with your neighbor. The catch is that your neighbor is only 14 years old and
you are 25 years old. You feel that since you both love each other that there should be no
problem with that.
Frank
Pharmacist
You have been a pharmacist for the past three years. Just recently you have been going
through some difficult times and decided that some pain pills may help. So you stole
some pain pills from work and have been taking a few pills each week. They make you
feel good. You realize it is wrong, but the pills are important for you to function. You
fear getting caught and losing your job, but you also fear what you would be like without
the pain pills.
Jennifer
Molested as a Child by Father
At about the age of five you were molested by your father. This molestation took place
throughout your childhood and into your teens. You believe that your mother was aware
this was taking place and did nothing to stop it. Now in your twenties and away from
home this behavior has stopped. You don’t discuss it and feel that this has ruined many of
your relationships. You do not feel comfortable being intimate with anyone. You are
afraid to bring children into the world out of fear that your father would hurt them as
well.
Mary
Democrat
You grew up in a totally democratic family from Massachusetts. You have always voted
democrat, because you believe in the ideals of the Democratic Party. You have never
once disagreed with any democrat, but you always find fault in the Republican Party and
their ideals. You feel that all republicans are too tied to the church to make competent
decisions for the state. There isn’t one republican politician that you agree with or like.
Christina
Grew up in Lover Class Family, Still has very little money
Growing up, you had a very poor life. Your father odd jobs, but lived pay check to pay
check. Due to your mother’s illness she was unable to work. Your father would try to
help your mother as often as he could, but this kept him from really holding down a job.
When you were old enough to begin working, you were forced to work. College was
never an option for you, because you were expected to work. To this day you work two
jobs just to make ends meet. You were lucky enough to win this cruise from a raffle. You
feel like you do not fit in with anyone on the ship, although you have been enjoying
yourself.
Victor
Lost Son to Drug Overdose
You son was always a very sweet kid. You never know he had a problem with heroin.
You did notice money missing from your wallet a lot and things stolen from your garage,
but you never suspected your son to be the one stealing from you to support his habit.
You feel betrayed by your son, but love him at the same time. You would do anything to
bring him back. ANYTHING!
Ted
Republican
You were born in Montana into a working class family. However, after college you
landed a very successful job working in the computer/technology industry. You love
work, but believe that democrats in congress would love to steal your money away by
increasing government and taxes. You don’t understand where democrats get off playing
with your hard earned dollar.
James
Extremely Wealthy
You are the fifth generation in a very affluent oil family from Texas. You have worked
hard in your life, but things do come easy due to your wealth. You have a brand new
eight bedroom home and drive a very nice Mercedes. You tend to be very conservative
and feel George Bush is doing an awesome job in office.
Table 5
Claire
Sterile
While visiting Mexico 4 years ago you got food poisoning. Since you did not have
insurance, you simply brushed the stomach pains off as bad cramps. As time went on you
became more and more sick. Finally after several months the pain went away. You
recently got a new job which has awesome health benefits. You had a physical and the
doctor told you that you would never be able to have children. It was assumed that you
became sterile from the food poisoning. You have vowed to never go to Mexico again
and feel that had you not gone there to go begin with, you would be able to have children.
You also do not understand abortion. You feel that if you don’t have the right to choose
than no woman should.
Soo Jin
Korean Immigrant
After years of saving, you chose to leave everything behind to immigrant to America.
You live and work in America as a computer technician. You worked hard to get where
you are today. You followed all the laws to become a legal citizen and have generated a
great deal of animosity towards illegal immigrants. While you understand exactly how
difficult the process is, you feel that if you did it, then so should they.
Ross
Motivational Speaker
For the past two years you have been the country doing motivational speaking. You feel
that everyone can improve and there is ALWAYS a light at the end of the tunnel. Life is
good….it’s real good! You feel that you have been blessed with a natural charisma that
carries you through life!
Dr. Dickerson
Gynecologist that performs abortions
You have been working at a local planned parenthood for six years now. You have
probably performed over four hundred abortions in that time. You feel that a woman has
a right to choose. You do not look at your work as anything other than work. It is just
another surgical procedure for you. You work hard and feel that you are actually helping
people by not allowing young women to become single mothers or put anymore
unwanted children into society.
Felix
Gambler
You have always had a problem with gambling. Recently you lost a lot of money in Las
Vegas. Your house is mortgaged, there is no money in the bank, and your wife has
already left you. You don’t really feel there is any reason for you to stay alive. You have
recently had thoughts of suicide and feel that it is the best answer to your problems. You
plan to commit suicide after the cruise.
Trisha
Woman who has had an abortion
When attending Marist College you became pregnant. You are not sure who the father is
because you were young, enjoying the “college scene”, and having random sex with a
variety of men you would meet at bars and parties. Knowing that a baby would interfere
with your future, you decide to have an abortion. It is two years after the abortion, and
you still have moments of guilt and regret, but overall view the decision as the right
decision for you. You do believe in a woman’s right to choose.
Emmanuel
Mexican illegal alien
You left Mexico nearly one year ago through an underground tunnel. You have been
living illegally and working for a small farm to get cash. You would probably become a
legal citizen if the process was not so difficult.
Table 6
Ed
Unemployed White Middle-class Male
You lost your job several months ago and it has been hard for you to find work. You
applied for work at a local company, but did not get the job. You found out that the
company hired a black male with less experience than you. You feel that the only reason
he was hired was because he is black and you are white. The company was simply trying
to reach their “quota” of black people for the day.
Brian
Deaf
While serving in Iraq you became deaf. A bomb exploded not far from you and ruptured
your ear drums. The doctors tried to do what they could, but you will never gain the
majority of your hearing back. You have partial hearing but are very embarrassed to ask
people to speak up. People often look at you funny because you talk loudly as well. The
only comfort you have is that you fought a war to help fight terrorism.
Rox Ann
Neo-Nazi
You blame society’s problems on non-white immigrants, Jews, liberalism. You feel that
if those people were restricted or eliminated from society, the problems of the world stop.
You tend to have racist and homophobic tendencies as well.
Samantha
Binge Eater
Whenever you feel stressed or uncomfortable (eating with people you don’t know) you
tend to binge eat; consuming thousands of calories in one sitting. After consuming all
these calories you simply crash and do nothing for the remainder of the day. You are not
willing to admit that you have a problem, and feel that this is a good way for you to
handle stress and awkward situations.
Adibah
Arabic Woman
Since 9/11 you feel that it is very difficult to live in the United States. People always
because you’re Muslim that you are a terrorist. You believe in the teachings of Islam and
feel that radical Islamic ideals have given your people and religion a bad name. After all,
the five pillars of Islam forbid murder. Terrorism is not a component of Islam. You wear
the traditional burka due to cultural reasons. You pray five times each day regardless of
where you are. You pray facing the Mecca in the east. Others do not understand this.
Calev “Caleb”
Grandson of a Jewish Holocaust Survivor
After World War II, your family fled Poland and moved to the United States. You are the
second generation to be born in the United States. You admire your grandfather for his
courage that kept him alive while in a friend’s basement for five months. You are not
deeply religious, although you do value your Jewish faith.
J.T.
Health Freak/Gym Bunny
You have been a health for many years now. You are very cautious about what you eat
and how it will affect your body. You look at people that overeat as disgusting. You do
not understand why someone would want to do that to themselves. You spend three hours
every day at the gym. You look great feel great and make sure people know it.
Soraya
Black Lawyer
You worked hard through your life to have many of the luxuries you have today. You
survived four years of college and four years of law school. You often feel that because
you are black, you are looked down upon, even in the law profession. You know that
when people look at you they think, “Why did you get the great job that you have? It
must have been affirmative action!” You don’t let that bring you down. You yourself
know how hard you worked and know that you, above all, earned your job as one of the
top lawyers in NYC. You look at yourself as an example for young black people
struggling to find a path.