PROBLEM #1: being forced to act like a “boy” or act like a”girl”
A huge part of mental health is feeling comfortable with who you are and the life you live. What happens when the things that make you feel good are “wrong” for your gender? Let’s learn more:
Learning gender roles start at a very young age. Just think about what boys and girls learn is “OK” to play with:
Being forced to act like a boy or act like a girl continues into your teenage years and beyond:
Let’s keep diving into our explorations of gender. If you’re transgender it means that the gender you’re assigned at birth doesn’t describe what you feel deep in your heart. Instead, most transgender people feel that they are of the opposite gender.
So why is this important to learn about? Well, first off, there are likely many people in your life (or maybe you yourself) that are transgender or non-binary, but are afraid to say it. The problem is that when you can’t be your REAL self it’s depressing. Many transgender and non-binary people get bullied, kicked out of their homes, and may consider suicide because of this rejection. Here is an example of what the transgender struggle looks like:
problem #2: being forced to like boys if you’re a girl, or like girls if you’re a boy
So! As you’ve seen there is A LOT to learn about gender. Now it’s time to add Sexuality into the mix.
Sexual orientation is who you are attracted to and it’s not the same as your gender.
Unfortunately, boys who aren’t attracted to just girls, and girls who aren’t attracted to just boys face a lot of bullying.
Do you think our school is friendly or hostile to students with different gender identities like trans, gender fluid, gender creative, and agender people? What about to our LGBTQ+IA students?
I can tell you that I hear a lot of “That’s mad gay!”, “Aye Yo’s”, and “no homo’s”. What about you? If the answer is “yes”, is there anything we can do to change how students act? Here’s a commercial that tries:
Here’s what it would feel like to be bullied for being heterosexual (being attracted just to the opposite sex:
Just like gender, there is no right kind of person to be attracted to. If it feels right, then it’s right (although doing something about it needs to be safe, consenting, and legal). And, again, just like gender, there are a lot of sexual orientations. Here are some flags representing different sexual orientations:
Solutions
How about creating art to crush gender stereotypes?
For those of you filming documentaries on social media, it’s time to start editing the footage. Here’s how:
Here are more ideas to help people better understand Gender Identity and create a more welcoming environment in our school and your neighborhood:
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊMake Ally buttons- here are some inspirations:
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊMake a children’s book like THIS ONE from Jazz, to help young children to understand different kinds of gender identities:
ˏˋ ★ ˎˊTo educate others about different sexual orientations you can embroider different PRIDE flags:
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊCreate a clay symbol to show the acceptance of all gender identities
ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ Create a Podcast. Here are some examples:
Here’s how to create a podcast in Soundtrap:
Here is a podcast script to help you plan your show:
