Gender Activities and Exercises

I use this activity in my stereotypes course to address the role of the media in
both reflecting and maintaining gender roles, stereotypes etc. You might find it
useful to.

I ask students to purchase a magazine of their choice, something they would

normally read (no pornography please), to read it cover to cover, and then to
identify examples in text, images, etc. that either support or counter traditional
gender roles and stereotypes. Students flag the examples in their magazines and
bring them to class. I begin class with a partial viewing of the film "Killing Us
Softly" and then open discussion about what they found in their magazines. The
idea is to get students thinking about how the media is both constrained by
social/cultural norms (they use these images and ideas because that is what
readers expect) and responsible for maintaining these expectations (what people
see is what they come to expect). One interesting thing students often note is
that the same companies advertise in different ways, depending on the audience
for the magazine - automobile ads are especially good examples of this. For ads
in men's magazines, the ads emphasize speed, freedom, and sex. For ads in
women's magazines, the ads emphasize

Stephanie Goodwin
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Psychological Sciences
703 Third Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2400
Tel: 765-494-6891
Fax: 765-496-1264
E-mail: sgoodwi@purdue.edu OR stephanie.goodwin@psych.purdue.edu

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This original idea was suggested to me by my advisor, Dr. Jennifer Hunt. Get the
book called The Giving Tree by Shel Silberstein. Give one half of your class the
original text of the book with the woman-gendered tree and the man-gendered
child. Give the other half of your class the book with the genders of the
characters switched around (a man-gendered tree and a woman-gendered child).
Ask them to read through the article, and then rate the characters on a number
of dimensions (I gave my class a short questionnaire). I asked them to rate each
character on dimensions including: niceness, generosity, selfishness, nurturance,
assertiveness, compliance, how satisfied they were with their actions, how much
they took advantage of the other character, as well as how good of a lesson the
book presents for children, how much they think the book is appropriate for a
son, and how much it is appropriate for a daughter. (Whew! That was a big list!) I
did this activity during the class period before we talked about gender roles and
the bias that can occur when people adhere to them. During my gender role
lecture, I brought in the SPSS analysis of their responses with some bar graphs,
and to say the least, the class was shocked. My class composed of people who
probably have decently egalitarian attitudes (they did elect to take an unrequired
gender class, after all) showed interesting bias in the direction of traditional
gender roles.

2. Another idea I have for you involves gathering up a bunch of magazines

(Maxim and Cosmopolitan/Glamour/Elle work well). I randomly passed them out
to my class as they entered the room. At the beginning of class I told them to
pretend that they were coming to this planet for the first time (I know that
sounds a bit weird). I asked them to use the magazine they were holding as a
good "reference" for learning what men and women were supposed to act/be like
in our culture. I had them jot down some notes, and then we had a really neat
discussion afterward about the media's portrayal of gender. It was a nice set-up
for a number of things (gender roles, body image, careers, personality, etc.).

3. The last idea I have for you involves a little discussion with no prep materials
whatsoever. This is a funny demonstration to do when you get to the Gender
Script Theory section of the class. Talk to your students about the behaviors that
are and are not acceptable for them to do in a public restroom. I've done this a
couple of times with different classes, and the behaviors that seem to evoke the
greatest differences are what they do when they realize the stall they are in has
no toilet paper (mostly the women in the class say they would politely ask the
person next to them, which is followed by disgusted and shocked looks by the
men in the class who usually say they wouldn't dream of doing something like
that). I've also seen some funny differences when I've asked them about whether
they talk to other people at all, or whether they'd compliment a stranger on their
outfit. I usually follow this up with a short discussion about how this
demonstration illustrates gender differences in scripts in our culture. It's a fun
one to do because it requires no materials, and it usually gets even the quietest,
most shy students to talk, or at least laugh along with the rest of the class.

April L. Seifert
Social Psychology Graduate Student
238 Burnett Hall
Department of Psychology
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0308
402.770.9511
lirpa_seifert@yahoo.com

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Get two identical dolls, dress one in blue and the other in pink. Write down 12
mixed up gender stereotypical feminine and masculine words. Then get the
students to assign 6 'words' to one of the dolls. You will find students will assign
the words based solely on the colour of the dolls cloths. Then you can talk about
gender being assigned at birth by the colour of the baby grows given in hospitals.

An alternative is to use pictures of male and female toys together with either a
picture of a baby in pink or blue. Students could get the pictures from catalogues
and carry out a very simple experiment.

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I have got my students to mark the same essay, but alter the gender of
the author's name (e.g. Joanne/John) to see whether it makes a difference to the
average mark given. If it does, you can then discuss contemporary sexism.
If it does not, you can discuss the reasons for a decline in sexism!
This links in with a study (but I'm not absolutely sure about this) by
Goldberg (circa 1984). It is also quite a good exercise to improve
essay-writing (having to consider how to allocate marks).

Louise Swire (Notre Dame College, Leeds, U.K.)

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In-Class Exercises
Psychology of Gender
R. Engeln-Maddox

I use a subset of the following exercises each semester based on time available in
class and the interest level of students in different topics. Most exercises are
completed in groups of 3-4 and then discussed as a class.

Researching Gender

Option 1: After showing a recording of a 20/20 show by John Stossel ("Men,

women, and the sex difference: Boys and girls are different"), students break into
groups of 3-4 and, using the research terms they have just learned, compile a list
of criticisms and perceived strengths of the research presented by Stossel.
Students are also asked to list any evidence of bias seen in the program. Each
group presents their conclusions to the class to facilitate class discussion.

Option 2: Students break into groups of 3-4. Each group is asked to come up with
a way in which they believe men and women are different or similar. Their task is
to design a study to test their hypothesis. Groups must explain their research
design, how variables will be operationalized, and any confounds or potential
sources of bias.

Hormones, Chromosomes, and The Brain

Option 1: After reading the article "Domestic Disputes" from Time Magazine,
students break into groups of 3-4. This article covers two court cases involving
transsexuals who married partners who were technically "same sex" (if the
transsexuals' original sex is used as the criterion). Students are instructed to
imagine that they are the judges deciding the two cases in question. They must
summarize their judgment and their reasons for deciding as they did. These
decisions are incorporated into a broader discussion on what it is that makes
people male or female.

Cognitive Abilities

Option 1: After being introduced to research findings suggesting that gender

differences in math skills do not emerge until junior high, students break into
groups of 3-4 and create a list of potential hypotheses to explain this finding.
They must rank their hypotheses according to how plausible they are and how
much variance they are likely to account for.

Gender Development - Psychoanalysis

Option 1: After an overview of Freud's general theories and his specific theories
regarding sex/gender differences, students break into groups of 3-4 and compile
any examples they can think of suggesting that Freud's theories still influence
how women and men are perceived today.

Option 2: Students read the "Heinz dilemma." (A man breaks into a drug store to
steal a drug that he cannot afford but is needed to save his wife's life.) Students
individually write what choice they feel Heinz should have made and why. They
then work in groups to evaluate whether their responses provide support for
Kohlberg's theory of moral development, Carol Gilligan's theory ("A Different
Voice"), both, or neither.

Gender Development - Social Theories

Option 1: After watching the 20/20 documentary "The Secret Life of Boys,"
students break into groups and evaluate whether the story shown in this film
provides support for social learning theory, gender schema/script theory, or
cognitive developmental theory. All pieces of evidence are evaluated in terms of
their likely validity. Potential sources of bias in the film are also identified.

Stereotypes

Option 1: Students are each handed a piece of paper at the beginning of class.
They are instructed not to look at what is on the papers others have. They are
given one of the following tasks:
a. List the 8 most important characteristics that an ideal person should have.
b. List the 8 most important characteristics that an ideal woman should have.
c. List the 8 most important characteristics that an ideal man should have.

Lists of the characteristics they come up with for each three categories are
written on the board. Students discuss and evaluate the degree of overlap
between perceptions of the ideal person and the male and female stereotypes.
This discussion is then extended to include the ideal characteristics of people with
certain jobs (e.g. president, teacher, accountant) to look for degree of overlap
with the lists of ideal characteristics for men/women.

Option 2: Students are asked to bring copies of men's and women's magazines to
class (e.g. Vogue, Cosmo, GQ etc.) After watching Jean Kilbourne's "Still Killing
Us Softly" (about images of women in the media), students break into groups and
look for images that support or fail to support Kilbourne's findings. Each group
then reports their findings back to the class.

Emotion and Aggression

Option 1: Students watch the film "Tough Guise" (about media images of
masculinity). Students then break into groups and compile of list of the most and
least persuasive arguments made in the film and their reasons for these choices.

Option 2: Students read the article "Girls Just Want to be Mean" from The New
York Times Magazine (about relational aggression in junior high and high school
age girls). Students are then asked to come to their own conclusions about
whether there are differences in aggression between male and female teenagers
and, if so, what the nature of these differences is.

Relationships
Option 1: Students watch the documentary "Defending Our Lives." This is a highly
emotional and disturbing portrait of domestic violence from the perspective of
four women who killed their abusers. Students are then given a list of domestic
violence myths and are asked to work in groups to determine how the
documentary addressed each of the myths (e.g. supported or failed to support a
myth, didn't address a myth).

Option 2: Students bring in "relationship advice" obtained from advice

columns/articles in popular men's or women's magazines. Working in groups,
students look for stereotypes of men or women in the articles, evidence that is
consistent or inconsistent with research on gender differences in relationships,
and are then asked to determine whether these articles discourage healthy
psychological development of men and women and the success of heterosexual
relationships.

Option 3: I play a 20 minute recording from the Chicago Public Radio program
"This American Life". The program interviews several psychologists who are
researching what makes relationships work - studying both heterosexual couples
and gay/lesbian couples. The researchers interviewed during the course of the
program are cited multiple times within the relationship chapter in the textbook.
The program includes recordings of interactions between couples and researchers'
comments on how these interactions may or may not predict the likelihood of
divorce. The impact of gender differences in communication styles and the impact
of these differences on relationships are also discussed. This recording is used to
launch into a broader discussion of what makes relationships "work", and
how/why gay and lesbian relationships might be different from heterosexual
relationships.

Sexuality

Option 1: Speakers from Loyola's student group, "The Rainbow Connection,"

come to class and speak on issues surrounding the development of gender
identity among GLBT youth. Specifically, they address how being gay/lesbian has
altered their perceptions of what it means to be masculine or feminine. They also
speak to students about the heterosexist bias they often encounter. Students are
encouraged to turn in anonymous questions for me to give to the speakers before
the presentation. Of course, they are also encouraged to ask questions during the
presentation. I give students the opportunity to complete an alternative
assignment should they have serious objections to attending this discussion.
However, I have never had anyone take me up on this offer. Instead, attendance
is usually perfect or near perfect on this day, and some students even bring
friends or roommates.

Option 2: I play a recent MTV documentary: "Fight for your rights: The double
standard in sexuality". This is a very modern, pop-culture infused take on how a
double standard still exists in this culture when it comes to sexual behavior. After
showing the video, the class works in groups to identify the strengths and
weaknesses of the documentary, and any biases it appeared to have.

Careers

Option 1: Students are shown an advertisement from a recent technology

magazine. This ad shows a woman pushing a man (sexually) down onto a desk in
an office. The copy reads "Our new LCD monitor gives you more room to work"
(implying that one's desktop can now be used for alternative activities). Students
are asked to discuss the following questions: Whose office is this? Who is the
boss? How can you tell? How do you think most men respond to this ad? Most
women? Why the difference? What would you think of this ad if the roles were
reversed (i.e. a man was pushing a woman onto a desk)? These questions are
used to launch into a broader discussion of sexual harassment in the workplace
and gender differences in terms of defining harassment.

Option 2: Wal-Mart stores are now being sued for gender-based discrimination in
hiring practices, promotions, and pay. Students are shown a chart from a recent
newspaper article comparing the salaries of men and women at Wal-Mart in
different occupational categories along with the percentage of each job category
that is male or female. Students discuss whether they believe this chart is
evidence of gender-based discrimination. (If they do not, they are asked what
type of evidence they would need to see to be convinced that a company was
practicing illegal discrimination against women.) This discussion often leads to
many students suggesting that the women at Wal-Mart just weren't working as
hard or were not as smart as the male employees. This is used to launch into an
exploration of research-based findings about gender differences and careers along
with myths about working women.

Mental Health

Option 1: Students are asked to work in groups to compile a list of hypotheses to

explain the consistent finding that women are more often diagnosed with
depression than men. They are asked to evaluate and rank their hypotheses in
terms of plausibility.

Physical Health

Option 1: Students are given a chart detailing the top ten causes of death for
both men and women in the U.S. They work in groups to generate hypotheses
explaining any differences or similarities seen between these two lists. This leads
to a discussion of how lifestyle and behavioral factors, along with gender-role
socialization, have an impact on the health-related behaviors of men and women.