What does stereotype mean?
From In Our Hands by the UUA

Goal:
To explore the concepts of prejudice and stereotyping and your family’s experience with them.

Definitions:
For this session define the terms as follows:
Prejudice: an unfavorable attitude toward or feeling about a person or group of people based on ignorance and/or misinformation.
Stereotype: a generalization about a group of people also based on ignorance and/or misinformation

Preparation:
Print the following statements on a large piece of paper:
All children are noisy.
I think people who wear glasses are dumb.
All African-Americans play basketball.
Everyone has a right to a free education.
No UUs believe in God.
I don’t like people who speak Spanish at home.
All old people are hard of hearing.
I don’t like people who are tall.
All adults are smart.

Activites:
Movement Game: Ask everyone to find a space in the room where they can stretch out their arms and legs without touching anything. Say something like: Our world is full of opposites like:wet—dry; little—big; hot—cold; old—young; night—day; short—tall; low—high. Can you think of more?

We’re going to play a game where we explore some of these pairs of opposites through the way we move our bodies. When I say a word, I want you to try it on like it was a piece of clothing. See how it fits you. The only rule is that you have to stay in one place, keep your feet where they are now all the time. We’ll start with huge. Let your body and your movements be as big as you can. (Pause for 5-10 seconds.) Now let your body and your movements get tiny, as small as you can. (Pause) Now let your body and your movements be all straight lines. (Pause) And now make curved lines. (Pause) Can you make your movements very loud? And now make them totally silent. Now, everyone explore moving like a boy. How do boys move? (Pause) Now switch and try moving like a girl. Now move like an old person. Now move like a teenager. Now move like a parent.

Did anyone make any discoveries while you were moving in different ways? (Be aware of movements that indicate prejudice or stereotyping about boys, girls, old people etc.)

True or False?
Read the list of statements you printed out above, ask your family to vote on whether they think the statement is true or false. When you’ve finished voting, discuss the statements with questions like:
What do most of these statements have in common?
How do statements like this make you feel?

Read the definitions of prejudice and stereotype. Then read each statement again and ask your family to say whether the statement is a statement of prejudice or a stereotype. (note that some are neither.)