Boys don't cry!

Topic
- Puberty & sexuality
- Citizenship & human rights
- Identity & emotions
Learning skills
- Self-awareness
- Empathy & social awareness
- Critical & reflective thinking
- Communication & expression
Activity type
- Group discussion
- Role play
Materials
- Basic
Age
- 6 - 11 years
- 12 - 14 years
>15 minutes
+5 players
Intermediate
Medium
Medium (classroom, square)

Contributors

ARSIS- Association for the Social Support of Youth

Everything you need to play this game

Statements
Materials for role play

A step-by-step guide to play the game

Divide the children into groups of up to five and give each group a different statement. Explain that each group has about 15 minutes to read their statement and make a short sketch that gives a message about this statement.

Your role as a facilitator is to walk around and guide each group. If they get stuck, ask them questions such as:

How can you portray this statement?
What position do you want to take in the sketch?
...

Ask each group to present their sketch. After each presentation, ask the audience what message they thought the presentation should convey. Then ask the presenting group what message they wanted to convey.

Start a discussion (see discussion questions in the extra game info).

Extra game information

SAMPLE STATEMENTS

Puppets are only for girls. 
Boys don’t cry. 
Boys don’t wear skirts. 
A girl cannot be the boss. 
Only boys play football. 
Girls are weak and boys are strong. 
Girls help their mothers and boys help their fathers. 
It is better to be a girl then a boy. 
When something goes wrong, boys are always blamed first. 
Boys can say ‘dirty words’, but girls can’t. 
Girls are smarter than boys. 
Girls win in fights because they fight ‘dirty’. 
It is OK for boys to hit each other, but not for girls. 
Boys are lazier than girls. 
Girls are better liars than boys.

Discussion questions:

What did you think of these statements?
Have you ever been in a situation like that? How did you feel? What did you do?
Do you know other statements like these?
Are there different rules and expectations for boys or girls in this group? In the classroom or in school? In the family? Does this make sense? 
What happens when a boy or girl doesn’t agree with these ideas and wants to be or act differently?
How do these ideas about males and females limit our choices? Can you give some examples? 
How do these limitations affect our human rights? 
What can we do in the future so that boys and girls can act more freely the way they want to?

Tips for the facilitator

Be careful to not reinforce the stereotypes this activity seeks to address. Be aware of your own prejudices and stereotypes relating to gender and how you may convey them to the players as the facilitator of the group.
Choose statements that show how girls and boys have equal rights. Choose statements controversial enough to elicit differences in opinions.

Variations

Rather than creating a sketch, let the children make a visual presentation about their statement (e.g., a drawing, cartoons, a collage with pictures from magazines, etc).

Specific learning objectives

Learning how to express your own opinion
Learning how to listen to someone else’s opinion
Learning about stereotypes and the label society can put on people.

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