Media Literacy

Adapted from the activity ‘Sex Stereotyping’- “GEAR against IPV”. Booklet III: Teacher’s Manual. (Rev. ed.). Athens: European Anti-Violence Network. Downloadable at https://www.gear-ipv.eu/

Duration of activity: 45-60 minutes

Learning objectives:

Enable young people to recognize the role traditional and online media play in creating and perpetuating gender stereotypes
Enhance critical thinking skills and develop skills of viewing the media critically
Consider how power relations are shaped by the media
Identify ways in which young people’s lives have been affected by these stereotypes
Instigate a process of questioning, challenging and deconstructing gender norms and social beliefs.

Materials needed:

Flipchart papers
Markers
Scissors,
glue or scotch tape
Pictures from magazines, advertisements, the internet, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr and other social media portraying men, women, nonbinary, queer. The pictures need to include both stereotypical images and non-stereotypical images of gender. Some preparation would be needed on behalf of the facilitator on this so these pictures are carefully pre-selected and printed prior to the activity. Alternatively, if it would be possible, this task can be assigned to the groups as ‘homework’ prior to the exercise, so each group can bring their own pictures with which they will create the poster.

Step by step process of the activity:Duration: 25-35 minutes

Introduction: In this activity, we’re going to explore how the media helps to build gender stereotypes and gender norms.
Divide the young people into 4 smaller groups using an energizer. Explain that each group has about 20 minutes to prepare a collage or poster according to its designated theme
- Group 1 will prepare a collage/poster that will depict stereotyped images of boys/men
- Group 2 will prepare a collage/poster that will depict stereotyped images of girls/women
- Group 3 will prepare a collage/poster that will depict non-stereotypical images of girls/women and non-stereotypical images of boys/girls
- Group 4 will prepare a collage/poster that will depict images of people who may express their gender differently and may not identify as men/boys/women/men
Lay out the pictures so they are well-spread out and the groups can pick and choose which ones to use in their posters/collages
As the groups are working on their posters, go around the groups and help out, prompt the group with questions to provide food for thought or just observe what is going on
Once they complete the posters, they can display them around the room, as ‘exhibits’ in a gallery. Ask the groups to give a title to their exhibit.
As the groups are working on the task, go around the groups and help out, prompt the group with questions to provide food for thought or just observe what is going on.
The groups go around the ‘gallery’ to see the ‘exhibits’ and discuss what the posters are depicting.
Once the groups have completed their walk in the gallery, come back to plenary for reflection and debriefing.

Facilitation questions for reflection and debriefing: 20-25 minutes

How are girls/women stereotypically portrayed in the pictures? What messages do these pictures give about how girls/women are supposed to look like, be and behave? – Write down these attributes in a flipchart under the title ‘Women/Girls’
How are men and boys stereotypically portrayed in the pictures? What messages do these pictures give about how boys/men are supposed to look like, be and behave? – Write down these in a flipchart under the title ‘Boys/Men’
How do you think people feel when they are depicted like that?
Which way of thinking is encouraged when we think of boys and girls, women and men this way? What messages do these pictures give about gender?
What is the impact and the consequences of the messages given out by these images?
- For instance, how does the content of these stereotypical images influence men and women in their choices? How does it affect the way they live their lives? Or their relationships with others? The roles they undertake in society?
How do these messages influence the way people want to express their gender? Can they express it differently? How about girls/women who like to be muscular, strong, adventurous, dynamic, leaders? How about men who are thin, sensitive, caring, softer?
And how about people who do not identify as boy/girl or man/woman? If people with diverse gender identities constantly look at these stereotypical pictures, how does this affect their gender expression?
Do these pictures present differences in power between the genders? Which gender is considered to have more privileges and more power in society? How does this affect other genders?
Do you think what the media portrays the real picture of how genders should be and how they should operate in society? Do all people look and behave as shown in these images?
Now let’s have a look at the non-stereotypical pictures of men and women and the pictures portraying people who could not easily be ‘classified’ as men/boys or women/girls
What do these picture show?
What message do these non-stereotypical images give?
How can these pictures help us challenge and deconstruct gender stereotypes?
What did you feel looking at these pictures?
Even though we may not be accustomed to these images, or it may feel ‘award’ or ‘strange’, do you think that it is possible that we define a new social ‘norm’ for gender?
What can we do to change the gender stereotypes we inherit from our cultural beliefs?
How can the media help change the way we look at women and men/boys and girls?

Take home messages and activity wrap up:

Some behaviours are sometimes difficult to see as stereotypes because they are strongly connected with deep-seated beliefs about the roles of males and females in our society. When these roles are questioned it could be disturbing, awkward or uncomfortable for some people. This activity encouraged us to identify and challenge gender stereotyping by developing a critical way of thinking with regard to culturally inherited stereotypes, and to the images presented in the media — film and television, newspapers, magazines and online media. We have seen that our assumptions about what it means to be a man or boy, and what it means to be a woman or girl is not true of everyone. Moreover, stereotypes can have a limiting a harmful effect on others- believing in stereotypes can lead to violence both towards oneself and others.

An important realization that will also arise, is how these stereotypical depictions of gender give rise to gender-based violence. Media depictions of gender clearly depict the male privilege (men are more powerful, tougher, stronger, leaders, decision-makers etc.), suggesting that it is men who can have power over other genders . The sexual objectification of women also suggests that one can easily have power over them, condoning in this way sexual violence.

Advertising is not something bad but the messages that convey gender roles need to be altered in order to reflect a non-stereotypical portrayal of men and women, boys and girls. The same way media teaches us about gender stereotypes, it can also teach us about non-stereotypical roles and behaviours as well.

Tips for facilitators:

Some of the pictures used may portray some overtly sexual images or covert sexual messages about women or men. It is important to address this point during the discussion, but remain mindful that discussions that have content relating to sex may cause discomfort to some young people. Approach this discussion with sensitivity. The important message to convey is that sexual objectification, especially that of women condones sexual and gender-based violence, as it suggests that one can easily exploit them and have power over them.

Young people may also think that these media representations do not directly concern them or affect them because they are about ‘other people’ and not them. It is important to help them understand that media and their stereotypical depictions of gender roles greatly influence people’s lives, including their own. They also affect their choices, freedom of expression, relationships as well as what they aspire to do in the future.

Tips for adapting the activity:

If you have already conducted an activity in which social norms were already discussed, you can shorten this activity and concentrate primarily on the depiction of non-stereotypical images and the deconstruction of gender stereotypes.

Adapting the activity for online implementation:

● It is possible that you can proceed with the activity as it is , while this will require some preparation on behalf of the facilitator. You can gather the pictures of stereotypical/non stereotypical images beforehand which you can upload on a digital board or on PowerPoint to share with participants.Participants are then split in 4 groups and work on the pictures, preparing their digital collage this time, as proposed in the activity.If you are also working with the group in an asynchronous mode, another option is to allocate the preparation of the collages as individual homework (encouraging participants to find their own pictures). You can prepare a slide show of participants’ collages which you can show (anonymously too) during the workshop and discuss in plenary.Alternatively, you can forgo the part with the collages/posters and use the videos to generate discussion on gender stereotypes in the media following the questions listed in the section ‘facilitation questions for reflection and debriefing’.Wrap up the discussion using the key messages.