UNIT on Sizeism
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http://www.socialjusticeeducation.org Tools for Building Justice, January, 2003 UNIT on Sizeism Session outline: Session # 1. Introduction Beginning with discussion of photos depicting “sizeism,” students go on to review early experiences of negative messages about body size and shape, drawing parallels with male and female socialization. Session closes with strategies for immediate interventions in the photo scenes. 2. The Perfect Body Students design and/or otherwise define the “perfect” body image and consider institutions in which “perfect” bodies are prescribed, applying the concepts of target and nontarget groups, internalized oppression, and acts of alliance to sizeism 3. Our Bodies, Ourselves Students look at experiences of internalized oppression—“when I don’t look right.” Then they conduct a speak-out: what should never be said or done to young people with real—not “perfect”—bodies again. The session closes with student suggestions for changing the school environment to intervene against sizeism. Unit on Sizeism 1 Session 1 Introduction Aims • To introduce the unit on sizeism • To identify and discuss two situations of sizeism involving youth • To define sizeism • To enhance emotional safety in the group to discuss sizeism Skills Students will: • Identify target group members in two situations of sizeism affecting youth • Identify personal experiences of receiving negative messages about size • Define sizeism as the mistreatment of or discrimination against someone based upon perceived body size or shape • Modify safety agreements to reflect increased awareness of sizeism • Identify acts of alliance against sizeism Preparation You will need photographs for discussion; students will need writing materials. Session Description Beginning with discussion of photos depicting “sizeism,” students go on to review early experiences of negative messages about body size and shape, drawing parallels with male and female socialization. Session closes with strategies for immediate interventions in the photo scenes. Session Outline 1. To Begin 5 minutes 2. Photographs 15 minutes 3. Size 20 minutes 4. Sizeism 10 minutes 5. Conclusion 5 minutes Agenda 1. To Begin 5 minutes Open with brief review of agreements. Without further introduction, move to photo discussion. 2. Photographs 15 minutes Distribute the photographs in turn, conducting the following discussion Incident #34 "Bulimia" (A young woman is throwing up in the girls room sink. Another young woman looks in the mirror, preoccupied with how she looks, paying no attention to her friend.) (Without captions) • Describe any likenesses you can see between the two young women Unit on Sizeism 2 • Describe any differences you can see between the two young women • What’s happening in this scene? (With captions) • What’s happening in this scene? • Describe the emotion and body language of each of the young women. • Are they friends? Why or why not? • Describe the scene as if they aren’t friends; then describe the scene as if they are friends. • Why do you think the young woman is throwing up? • Has this happened before? How can you tell? • The title of this photo is bulimia. What is bulimia? (Ans. An eating disorder in which someone episodically “binges” (eats a large amount of food obsessively), later feeling guilty, depressed, and self-condemning. Bulimia is often associated with trying to prevent weight gain, such as by inducing vomiting, using laxatives, dieting, or fasting.) • How might she be feeling about herself? About how she looks? • How might the young woman looking in the mirror be feeling about herself? About how she looks? • What message might she silently be receiving from the other young woman? What message might she silently be giving the other young woman? • How could these young women be allies to each other? By a show of hands, how many of you when you first saw this picture felt like laughing? What are some reasons why young women in a scene like this are sometimes made out to be objects of laughter? Incident #35: “Shunned” (Three athletic male youth stand in a huddle scornfully regarding a large-bodied male youth who approaches them fearfully.) (Without captions) • What differences can you see among the four men in this photo? • What put-down words are used to describe people with bodies larger than so-called “normal” size? • By a show of hands, how many of you immediately thought of one of those words when you first saw the photo? • What does this tell you about what’s happening in this scene? (With captions) • What’s happening in this scene? • Describe the emotion and body language of each of the young men • Why are the three young men reacting to the large-bodied young man in this way? • How does the large-bodied young man feel about how the other young men are acting toward him? • Has he been treated this way before? How can you tell? • How might he have learned to deal this treatment in the past? • How could he resist this mistreatment, refusing to put up with it? • How could any of the young men in the scene act as an ally to the large-bodied young man? Unit on Sizeism 3 Close the discussion by having students point out, referring to both photographs, • What are some differences between the photographs? • How might the differences be connected to gender? • What is common to both photographs? 3. Size 20 minutes a. Writing Have students complete a 5-10 minute confidential writing exercise, discussing an early experience they have had, or witnessed, of someone: • being put down, • called a name, • prescribed medicine or a diet for, or • mistreated in any other ways about the size or shape of their bodies Write about what happened, what message was conveyed, how it made them feel about themselves, and how it still might affect them. Advise students that you will not collect the writings, and they will not be expected to report about what they wrote. b. Same-gender dyad Break students into same-gender pairs to take turns talking about how it felt to write what they wrote, without sharing the content. If necessary, create one male and/or one female triad in order to preserve same gender conversations. If someone questions the same-gender arrangement, ask students to give brief reasons for making the dyads same-gender. (Ans: some answers may involve embarrassing experiences especially difficult to share with someone of the opposite gender.) c. Reconvene students to report any feelings they are willing to about how it felt to complete the writing exercise. Acknowledge difficult feelings: these issues touch on the most personal and intimate: our body-images, how we see and feel about ourselves, and how these views and feelings are shaped by others’ perceptions, and sometimes mistreatment, of us. 4. Sizeism 10 minutes Introduce this unit: sizeism, the mistreatment of or discrimination against people based upon their perceived (or self-perceived) body size or shape. One of the particular forms of sizeism is fat oppression, the mistreatment of and discrimination against people designated to have “large” bodies. Explain that this is the kind of ism, unlike some others, that everyone at one point or another can become a target ofanyone can potentially at some time in their lives be picked out for criticism, shame, embarrassment, ridicule, or even unwanted medical attention based upon body size or shape. Unit on Sizeism 4 Return to the agreements and have students review them in the light of sizeism. Focus especially on the “no putdowns” agreement: what names are people with “different” body sizes called that come off as putdowns, even if the words seem apparently harmless? (Ans. Fat, obese, skinny, short, anorexic &c.) Have students recommit to agreements with special attention to showing mutual respect for body size, shape and appearance. Invite students silently to reconsider their personal writings. Place them back in pairs to take turns completing either or both of the following statements: • One thing I could have used from an ally against sizeism is…… • One way I can be an ally with others against sizeism is….. Finish the dyad and ask a few students to share their answers in the full group. 5. Conclusion 5 minutes Close by appreciating students for their work Unit on Sizeism 5 Session 2. The Perfect Body Aims • To examine the stereotype of the “perfect body” • To explore institutional forms of sizeism and their effects on students • To explore internalized oppression among young people related to body size and shape • To identify acts of alliance against sizeism Skills Students will: • Construct images of the stereotypical “perfect body” and identify public and secret messages of the stereotype • Identify forms of sizeism in five institutions • Identify how students are separated from each other by perceived body shape and size • Identify acts of alliance against sizeism in the scenes depicted in the photos Preparation You will need photographs from the last session, and art materials, scissors, tape and popular fashion magazines, the kinds found in a “supermarket check-out aisle” (as in the ageism unit) for use in the first exercise. Session Description Students design and/or otherwise define the “perfect” body image and consider institutions in which “perfect” bodies are prescribed, applying the concepts of target and nontarget groups, internalized oppression, and acts of alliance to sizeism Session Outline 1. To Begin 5 minutes 2. Supermarket Checkout Aisle 20 minutes 3. Measuring Up 15 minutes 4. Internalized oppression 10 minutes 5. Conclusion 5 minutes Agenda 1. To Begin Have students reintroduce the subject of this unit and review the agreements as enhanced at the close of the last session. 2. Supermarket Checkout Aisle 20 minutes Distribute art materials and magazines. Assign the students the following tasks: • Find images of the “perfect body” of your gender, based on what the magazines in the “supermarket aisle” prescribe: perfect shape, perfect size, perfect hair, perfect teeth, &c.