Gone are days when boys are made of "snips and snails and puppy dog tails" and girls are made of "sugar and spice and everything nice"... or are they? Children are barraged with messages about gender and heterosexual norms everywhere they go - their homes, their schools, the media, and more. Do you know what hidden lessons they are learning? How do gender and sexuality affect everything from boys struggling in school to girls dropping out of the STEM pipeline, from sexual harassment to anti-gay bullying, from eating disorders to plastic surgery? How do parents, guardians, teachers, and schools provide safe environments for positive self esteem, healthy identity development, and acceptance of differences?
Capitol Tech U Doctoral Presentation - April 2024.pptx
Trevor Day Gender Diversity
1. Trevor Day School
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
Seattle Girls’ School
What Boys and Girls Are Made of:
Supporting Healthy Gender Identities of Children
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
3. Agenda
• Gender Differences
• Gender Bias
• Gender Bias and Girls
• Gender Bias and Boys
• When the Binary Doesn’t Work
• What Can We Do?
• Discussions
• Resources
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
17. Process Break
What are the positives and negatives of where your child is,
as far as you can tell? What are the specific questions or
concerns that come up for your child?
My child is MOSTLY:
-internalizing and conforming to gender
norms and stereotypes
-feeling pressured to conform to gender
stereotypes
-little affected by gender stereotypes
-actively non-conforming to gender
stereotypes
Please gather in affinity groups.
Meet, chat, clarify.
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
18. What Can We Do?
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
19. What Can We Do for Girls?
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
• Teach the difference
between self-sacrificing and
good.
• Talk about or compliment
something besides her looks.
• Value the quality of her
relationships, not the
quantity.
• Give her access to diverse
women mentors.
• Role-Play difficult
conversations with her.
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
20. What Can We Do for Boys?
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
• Teach the difference
between strong and
tough.
• Talk about feelings and
relationships.
• Make it okay to be
vulnerable.
• Give him access to
diverse male mentors.
• Help them understand
societal homophobia.
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
21. What Can We Do for Gender Diverse Kids?
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
• Minimize gendered
language.
• Interrupt gender exclusive
behavior.
• Make gender insignificant
in grouping.
• Mix up gender
stereotyped activities.
• Believe what they tell you.
• Normalize their
experience.
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
22. What Can We Do for All?
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
• Help them develop strong interaction and social skills.
• Discuss nontraditional family and relationship models.
• Show them diverse role models of all genders.
• Respect and nurture their true selves.
• Teach “norm”, “normal”, and “good”.
• Teach about gender diversity.
• Share your stories.
• Model the way.
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
23. Rosetta Eun Ryong LeeRosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://sites.google.com/site/sgsprofessionaloutreach/)
Teach Media Literacy
• Choose media FOR youth when possible.
• Engage in media WITH youth.
• Help youth understand the hidden messages of media.
• Help youth think about how they want to internalize or
reject these messages.
26. Presenter Information
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee
6th Faculty and
Professional Outreach
Seattle Girls’ School
2706 S Jackson Street
Seattle WA 98144
(206) 805-6562
rlee@seattlegirlsschool.org
http://tiny.cc/rosettalee
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
27. Resources
• Joshua M. Aronson, Ph.D., “Improving Achievement &
Narrowing the Gap,” Learning and the Brain
Conference, Cambridge, MA, November 2003
• Allan G. Johnson, Privilege, Power, and Difference.
• Miss Representation, documentary film on media and
women
• United Nations Population Fund Statistics on Gender
Equality as of 2005
http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/factsheets/facts
_gender.htm
• Learning to be critically literate of mass media
http://www.medialit.org/
• Media Guide for Parents and Educators
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)
28. Gender Specific Resources
• Brené Brown, Men, Women, and Worthiness
• Jennifer Bryan, From the Dress Up Corner to the Senior
Prom
• JoAnn Deak, Ph.D., Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Confident
and Courageous Daughters, How Girls Thrive
• Jackson Katz, Tough Guise, Wrestling with Manhood,
The Macho Paradox
• John Medina, Talaris Research Institute, various studies
on early gender differences in competition and play
• Mary Pipher, Ph.D., Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves
of Adolescent Girls
• Rachel Simmons, Odd Girl Out, Odd Girl Speaks Out,
Curse of the Good Girl
• Michael Thompson, Raising Cain, Speaking of Boys, It’s
a Boy!
Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee (http://tiny.cc/rosettalee)