Gender Stereotypes:
Visual Gender Boxes
Activity Type:
Intended Audience:
Intended Length:
Authoring Center:
Special Considerations:
Grade 6
30-40 minutes
SARSSM
Materials: Dry erase markers (pink & blue), laminated gender symbols,
magnets/tape, pink and blue dry erase markers
Lesson/Activity Objective:
Learning Objectives: Students will identify and analyze the influence of gender stereotypes and how
they connect to incidents of gender bias and gender-based hate language as forms of sexual
harassment. Students will brainstorm ways to create an environment free of gender bias and sexual
harassment at their school.
STATE/NATIONAL LEARNING RESULTS
MAINE – D.1: Students explain and analyze influences on adolescent health behaviors
NATIONAL HEALTH– 2: Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology,
and other factors on health behavior; and 8: demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family,
and community health.
NATIONAL SEXUALITY STANDARDS— Identity Grades 6-8: CC.1-2, INF.1, IC.1, ADV.1
Lesson/Activity Instructions:
ACTIVITY OUTLINE:
1) Gender Stereotypes
2) Visual Gender Boxes
3) Sexual Harassment Link
GENDER STEREOTYPES
NOTES/PREP:
I. GENDER STEREOTYPES:
a. Who can define gender? (boy or girl)
b. Gender is the expectations or rules society gives us about
being a boy or girl.
HOSPITAL EXAMPLE:
Activity pairs well with a
definition of Sexual Harassment
that focuses on gender bias.
Each local sexual assault support center has invested time and resources developing these tools for their educational
programming. They are being shared here as a peer-to-peer best practices compendium. Please feel free to use these
resources, but be sure to give appropriate credit to the originating agency.
c. So the second you are born, the hospital puts you in pink or
blue to show people that you are a boy or a girl. The gender
the hospital gives you when you’re born plays a huge role in
your everyday life: names, activities, and the people you
relate to.
DRESS EXAMPLE:
d. Who wears dresses in our society? (Girls) Can Boys wear
dresses too? (Yes, but they don’t because they might get
made fun of)
STEREOTYPES:
e. So when we talk about the rules or expectations of gender,
we are really talking about STEREOTYPES. Has anyone heard
the word stereotype? (yes)
f. Stereotype: is an assumption we put onto someone based
on how they look or where they are from.
g. What are the stereotypes about 6th/7th/8th graders?
h. What are some stereotypes about your school?
i. What are the stereotypes about your community/city?
BASKETBALL PLAYER EXAMPLE:
j. So even though we know we shouldn’t make assumptions
about people, we sometimes do without noticing it.
k. For example, if a really tall guy walked in the door, what
would we assume he must be really good at? (basketball)
l. Why might this be frustrating for this guy? (maybe he
doesn’t like basketball/maybe he stinks at basketball)
m. Exactly. Maybe he hates basketball, but everywhere he
goes people say, “You’re so tall, you must be really great at
basketball.” OR maybe he is awful at basketball, and
everywhere he goes people tell him how good he must be.
n. So, let’s say this guy does like basketball and he is really
good at it. What might be frustrating about people
assuming he is good at basketball because of his height?
(He might be good at it because he practices all the time)
o. Exactly. Maybe he is good at basketball because he works
really hard at it and practices his jump shot and does drills
every day after school and not just because he happens to
be tall. That would feel really unfair.
p. So making assumptions about people based on
STEREOTYPES can be unfair and hurtful.
PITBULL EXAMPLE:
q. Another way to learn about stereotypes is to think about
dog breeds.
r. What is a stereotype about pit bulls? (They are aggressive,
Each local sexual assault support center has invested time and resources developing these tools for their educational
programming. They are being shared here as a peer-to-peer best practices compendium. Please feel free to use these
resources, but be sure to give appropriate credit to the originating agency.
mean, they bite, they aren’t good family dogs)
s. We all know that there are pit bulls that don’t bite, and it
actually depends on the dog and how they were raised.
t. These dogs are less likely to get adopted because of the
aggressive stereotype. So stereotypes are only sometimes
true, and they aren’t helpful.
GENDER STEREOTYPE:
u. So now who can define a gender stereotype?
v. Gender stereotype: An assumption based on gender,
limiting and sometimes even hurtful
w. So gender stereotypes exist everywhere in our society,
especially in the media
VISUAL GENDER BOXES
II. VISUALS
a. [Use laminated symbols that are pre-selected and
stereotypically and/or negatively masculine/feminine. May
use magnets on dry-erase, or Velcro on felt pieces on board,
or even Velcro on actual boxes, these symbols should
streamline student’s responses to stereotypes.]
b. Let’s do an activity that looks at gender stereotypes
c. Who here has heard or been told to “act like a lady?”
d. Who here has heard or been told to “be a man” or “man
up?”
e. We have several images here and we want you to decide
stereotypically where each one belongs. [use one image as
a class example]
f. [Hand out 1 or more image to each student. Have students
come to the board and stick them in the appropriate
stereotype box and share a comment with the class.]
g. How is this stereotype harmful?
h. How would your life change if girls had to wear skirts all the
time, etc.?
SEXUAL HARASSMENT LINK
I. SEXUAL HARASSMENT LINK:
a. Are these gender stereotypes fair? What are your
reactions? How do they make you feel?
b. Where do we get these ideas from? Why is it so easy for us
to decide which image goes in which box?
c. How does it feel when someone is boxed in by gender
stereotypes?
Classroom management is
needed when students are
handed the images and asked to
get out of their seats.
Activity moves more quickly when
you bring up multiple students at
a time.
Remind students to speak loudly
and clearly when presenting their
gender symbol to the class.
Remind students that this is the
serious part of the program and
ask for their respect.
Each local sexual assault support center has invested time and resources developing these tools for their educational
programming. They are being shared here as a peer-to-peer best practices compendium. Please feel free to use these
resources, but be sure to give appropriate credit to the originating agency.
d. Are the gender stereotypes realistic? [You can’t expect that
men and women can only experience one emotion]
e. Let’s say these were laws, how would this impact your life?
[You wouldn’t be able to participate in the things you love
doing or be who you are]
II. SEXUAL HARASSMENT:
a. [Use the images on the board to create an example of a
student stepping outside of their gender box i.e. “A girl who
plays contact sports, has a short haircut and wear suits and
ties to the dances she might get called…”]
b. What names would a student outside of their box be called?
[Write down insults/slang outside of the boxes, later it is
important to erase these slang words and connect the boxes
on the board.]
c. In real life, what happens to someone when they step
outside of the boxes?
d. These words/actions are sexual harassment because they
are gender-based and/or sexual in nature.
e. Sexual in nature: Identify the words on the board that are
about sexual orientation, dating behaviors, or sexual
behaviors as sexual in nature
f. Gender-based: Identify the words on the board that have to
do with being a boy or girl as gender-based, or gender
discriminating behavior
III. HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT EXAMPLE:
g. If the example student steps out of the box, she may not
care that she’s being called these words. But what if
another student is thinking of stepping outside the box and
sees the first student being called these words?
h. Do you think it’s likely that she’ll want to step out or stay in
her box?
i. Even if the person seems unaffected by this, it still creates
an environment where people aren’t free or don’t feel safe
to be themselves.
IV. SARSSM’s SERVICES
j. SARSSM can help someone being affected by sexual
harassment by talking to them on our 24-hr, free and
confidential Crisis and Support Line.
k. We can also work with the school to help the student feel
safe at school.
l. We also take calls from people who know someone that is
affected by these issues.
Each local sexual assault support center has invested time and resources developing these tools for their educational
programming. They are being shared here as a peer-to-peer best practices compendium. Please feel free to use these
resources, but be sure to give appropriate credit to the originating agency.
V. WHAT CAN YOU DO?
a. How do we create an environment where it is okay for
people to step outside of these boxes without the fear of
being sexually harassed? [Ask for examples of what the
students can do if they see this happening to someone they
know]
b. Your school wants to know if this is happening to you. [Talk
about anonymous reporting policy if there is time]
Each local sexual assault support center has invested time and resources developing these tools for their educational
programming. They are being shared here as a peer-to-peer best practices compendium. Please feel free to use these
resources, but be sure to give appropriate credit to the originating agency.