Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Class Activities
Part II: Representations of Gender, Race, and Class
Activity 1
Question of the Day
The question of the day is a fun and easy way to draw students into the topic of the
day’s class, get to know one another, take roll, or use as a discussion question for
an online class. Here are the questions for use in Part II.
1. In your view, what does it mean to be a “strong” woman? Are strong women
always feminists?
2. How has a childhood toy or doll impacted your self-perception? How have you
used a toy or doll to display resistance?
3. How is women’s sports fanship performed in the United States? How can sports
be a site of resistance?
4. What are some typical expectations of women in our culture? How fair or accurate
do you think they are? How do they compare with our expectations of men?
Activity 2
Gender Boxes
This activity highlights the pressure for both men and women to conform to particular
gendered expectations and suggests the consequences of violating such
expectations.
1. On the board draw two large boxes. One should be titled “Act like a man” the
other, “Act like a woman.” Ask students to come to the board and fill in the boxes
with words that describe the qualities and behaviors of what it means to “act like a
man/woman.”
2. Next, ask students, “What names are used for persons who don’t fit in the box”?
Write these terms around the boxes.
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Activity 3
Socialization
1. Prior to the class in which the instructor wants to lead a discussion about
socialization, ask students to write a short reflective paper about their early
memories of being socialized by parents, peers, teachers, and so on. Depending on
the goals of the instructor, this can be adapted to focus on gender, race, class,
ability, and/or sexual orientation. Ask students to write about what they were told
about what it means to be a boy, girl, poor kid, and so on. Where did those
messages come from? Do they remember the first time they discovered their sex,
gender, and race?
2. On the day of the activity break the students into small groups. Since these
reflection papers will contain varying degrees of personal information, students may
Activity 4
Symbolic Annihilation
The activity explores the idea of symbolic annihilation introduced in the Douglas
essay and whether or not realistic portrayals of women have changed in online
advertising.
1. Find some ads depicting women and their prescribed gender roles from the 1960s
and 1970s. These can easily be found on Google images. Present them to the
students to examine.
2. Have students find some ads from the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Many of these
will be online ads. Direct students to look specifically for ads for items that were
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Activity 5
Bend It Like Bekham
1. Obtain the film Bend it Like Bekham (2002) and screen it for students. The film
revolves around the culture of British Sikhs and a young girl who wants to play
soccer but her parents forbid it due to her gender.
Activity 6
Daughters of the Dust
1. Have students obtain a copy of the album Lemonade by Beyoncé and listen to
it/watch it in its entirety before class.
2. Then obtain a copy of Julie Dash’s film Daughters of the Dust from the campus
library (or local library) and screen it in class.