Diversity

I am a 20 year old, female university student, and aspiring French teacher. This is an assignment for one of my education classes. Hope you enjoy :)

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Darius Simpson & Scout Bostley - "Lost Voices" (CUPSI 2015)

Subscribe to Button! New video daily: http://bit.ly/buttonpoetry If you loved this poem, check out Dominique Christina: http://bit.ly/1ygHTHY Performing for ...

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Skeletons Hug, Kiss, And Dance Before A Crowd. When They Step Out From The Screen? I'm Smiling.

When they stepped out from behind the screen? I smiled.

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I have had this image saved on my computer for a very long time and I definitely plan on using this as a lesson when I become a teacher! Great demonstration

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My big fat fabulous life. I LOVE this show. Demonstrates body diversity. 

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Whitney Thore is an amazing woman! She has just recently gotten her own reality tv series on TLC. She was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome, which made her gain lots of weight. She makes it known that her body image insecurities ruled her life. She used to be a dancer but was so ashamed of her body that she stopped. However, she has turned her life around and is refusing to let her insecurities stop her from living life. She is now dancing again, and doing activities that she never thought she would do - like going to the beach... IN A BIKINI! She is so inspiring, funny, and relatable! She promotes #nobodyshame, which I find is really important in today’s society. I’ll be honest, I’ve watched every episode and am looking forward to her next season! 

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Tess Holliday

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Body Image.

Like many other people, my body image is something that I have struggled with most of my life. When I found out that we would be covering a unit on Bodies and Fat Phobia, I was really excited and really scared. I was so interested in the readings that were assigned and all the different ideas that were discussed in class, but I was also nervous of being judged. I’m not some skinny-mini, but I’m also not 600 pounds. I consider myself pleasantly plump – and I’m getting to be okay with that. My way of looking at it, is that when I become an educator, I will actually be able to relate with my students about their insecurities. How many times have students been embarrassed in gym class or during class discussions? I believe that I will have the upper hand, in this case.

There were so many fascinating readings and videos, but one that really caught my attention was the blog that I have posted below (the link). “Hello, I am fat.” was something I could really relate to! The author, Lindy West, discusses her struggle with her body and weight loss. At first, she believed (like almost everyone else) that her body did not fit into society’s standards. Then she realized that society’s standards were terrible and shouldn’t matter. She also brings attention to “fat shaming” and how our society pretty much does that on its own without people having to encourage it. That was probably one of my favourite readings of the semester, and I really recommend you check it out!

Also, another reading I really enjoyed during this unit was an article called “20+ Examples of Thin Privilege” by Shannon Ridgway. She basically talks about society’s “normal” body size and sizeisms. Then she lists 22 privileges thin people have. Honestly, before reading the list, I never even realized how true these situations are. For instance, number 11: “People do not assume that you are lazy, based solely on your size” or number 18 “Your body type isn’t sexually fetishized.”

Although most of these readings can be applied to young adults, the concepts in general are important to understand. Body image insecurities and bullying do not wait for young children to comprehend, therefore teachers should not wait to educate

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This is a picture of children’s toys. The blue one is for boys to play with and the pink one is for girls. How do I know this? Because I was brought up with that type of mentality. On the blue box, we can see that there is a little boy in a doctor’s suit. On the pink box, there is a little girl in a nurse’s costume .To analyze a little further, why is it that doctors are represented by boys and nurses by girls? Is it really that impossible to believe that the roles could be reversed? Until I was about 16, I never really knew to question these types of things. Why would I? The people who work in the media industries are very good at their jobs. However, now that I am studying to become an educator, I really try to look at these kinds of sexist and degrading advertisements with a critical eye.

In fact, this picture reminds me of one of the readings we did in my diversity course. In her article, “Beyond Pink and Blue,” Robin Cooley talks about her grade 4 class’ reactions to gender stereotypes in toys and advertisements. She discusses about how she introduced these “gender stereotypes” to her class by reading them “anti-biased literature,” which led to further conversation about the topic. The students even wrote letters to The Pottery Barn, a large home furnishing store, expressing their disappointment with their representations of gender in their catalog. I found this text really interesting and inspiring. Even I would not have known the power and the knowledge a group of fourth grader could have. I love reading examples like this because it gives me ideas for my future lessons and helps me shape my classroom ideals.  

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