Student Wellbeing

*Taken from the Respectful Relationships education booklets. 

Just as gender norms and stereotypes are often reinforced in children’s literature, the stories and messages to which children are exposed to in the media (e.g. through television shows and advertisements) can also reinforce traditional gender norms and expectations.  Some research has suggested a link between television viewing and the learning of stereotypical gender perceptions among children.  Examples of these include:

• Advertisements featuring men mowing the lawn and fixing the car and women cleaning the house and taking care of the children
• Only airing men’s AFL matches in prime time and not women’s AFL games
• Colour coding (pink and blue) of clothing/greeting card sections of retail outlets
• People assuming that the TV character ‘Bluey’ is a boy because she is blue and named Bluey!

After reading/listening to these books, discuss the following questions as a family:

• Is it true that there are just girls or boys things? Why/Why not?
• What examples have you seen of gender stereotyping in books or on TV?
• How do these books compare to fairy tales like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty?
• Have you ever seen/heard/experienced gender stereotyping?

QR codes for texts

Some Girls by Nelly Thomas

Some Boys by Nelly Thomas