The Genderbread person

Familiarise with gender-related concepts and terms for 14+ students/teachers/school staff

The “Genderbread” activity aims to bring students/teachers/school staff into contact with terms and concepts of gender

Objectives

Define and get familiar with the concepts of gender identity, gender expression, sex assigned at birth and sexual orientation;

Make students/teachers/school staff aware of their own experiences and identity;

Combat widespread stereotypes about these concepts.

Indicative time

90 min

Facilitator & target group

Facilitator(s): school teachers/staff

Target Group: high school students aged 14 to 19/other school teachers or school staff

Methodology – steps for the facilitator

Preparation:

Print 4 copies of the picture of the “Genderbread person” (you can cut just the upper half part)
Print 4 copies of the list of words you find the handouts (cut all the words and mix them);

In classroom:

Divide students into 4 groups;
Write the following terms on the whiteboard:

Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Sex assigned at birth
Gender expression

Give each group 15 minutes to think about a definition for each of the four terms mentioned above.
Give each group a printout of the genderbread person and ask them to enter the four terms in the right space;
Ask each group to share the definition with the other groups;
Provide the correct definitions for each term presented, take time to discuss and to allow for participants’ questions);
Distribute the word lists to each group and ask them to link each of the words of the category to which it belongs (thus, associate it with one of the 4 terms identified earlier);
Analyze the work of each group, comparing the results and then give the correct definitions, again taking time to discuss and ask for questions.

Climbing (co-create actions)

How could we stimulate mutual understanding in this situation?
Can you provide suggestions to deal with this situation?

Materials & Resources – tools

Class environment

Whiteboard or flipchats;
Pens/markers and papers;
Print of the genderbread (available at this link): https://www.genderbread.org/resource/genderbread-person-v4-0-worksheet-fill-in-the-blanks);
Copies of the word lists.

E-learning environment

For implementing this activity online, use break rooms to divide participants into smaller groups. After each group has discussed their assigned term, all participants will return to the larger group and one person from each group will share with the others the definition their group has created.

For the second part of the activity with the genderbread image, you can use JAMBOARD, opening this link https://jamboard.google.com/d/1gezc0x9SW7QnIql3_hsDNpMa7rxraKSvUjsdumklU14/edit?usp=sharing and creating a copy to use with your class.

Share Jamboard per each group and ask students to move the post it with the 4 categories to the right spot, and then add other post-it with words referring to that categories, according to the same color.

Then compare the results. If any word is missing compared to the list provided, tell them the word and ask them to position them in the correct category. Discuss together definitions and opinions.

For a quicker version, try this Drag and Drop Activity.