Unpacking Stereotypes:
Children's Place T-Shirt
Lesson Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Detect, reflect upon, and reject stereotypes that are present in our everyday lives
Learning Standards
- LfJ 11. Students will recognize stereotypes and relate to people as individuals rather than as representatives of groups.
- LfJ 12. Students will recognize unfairness at the individual level (e.g. biased speech) and injustice at the institutional or systemic level (e.g. discrimination).
- LfJ 13. Students will analyze the harmful impact of bias and injustice on the world, historically and today.
Learning Activities: If you have 15 minutes
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Greeting:
What is something you would like to learn how to do?
Reading:
Define a stereotype for your students prior to sharing the reading below.
“Girls’ development is, in many respects, learning how to act within overly prescribed roles…learning to become what others want her to be.” --Carol Gilligan
Ask Students:
- What does this quotation get you thinking about?
Initiative:
Question for students: What do you notice about this T-shirt? What stereotype is being invoked here?
Information for teacher: This T-shirt was designed and sold in 2013. Students should notice that this T-shirt aimed at girls suggests that they like a number of activities but not math.
Learning Activities (continued): If you have 45 minutes
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Initiative:
Invite students to apply Patricia Devine’s Detect, Reflect, Reject framework to this t-shirt.
- Detect: What is the problem here?
- Reflect: Why is this stereotype showing up here? Who is it harming?
- Reject: What can we do to challenge this problematic stereotype?
Share the way people reacted when one woman, Rebecca Kenton, published a picture of the T-shirt along with a critique.
Ask Students:
- What do you think of Kenton’s critique and other people’s reactions?
Learning Activities (continued): If you have 2 hours
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Initiative:
Share a back-and-forth between two Facebook posters with opposing perspectives.
Ask Students:
- What do you think of these opposing perspectives?
Initiative:
Share the response from The Children’s Place.
Ask Students:
- What do you think of the store’s response to the criticism?
- How does this example from 2013 influence your thinking about stereotypes and challenging stereotypes?
Debrief:
- What did you like about today’s lesson?
- Did you learn anything new about yourself or anyone else?
- What could make it better?