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Perhaps to bring up a subject that has already been mentioned: it may be good to avoid dichotomies like 'male/female', 'black/white' where possible. I have pale skin that tends to go red easier than brown, blue eyes, and yet I also have close relatives with almost identical racial history who have brown skin and brown eyes. My youngest sister, who has similar colouring to me, was amazed in high school when her teacher (one of the relatives with brown skin) pointed out she should know the answer to his question because she is 'black'. She had never really considered the question of what colour she is, and has always had 'multicoloured' friends. Perhaps one thing classes on gender and race should aim to do is to help students consider that not everyone fits into neat categories. I always have to think carefully when faced with a list of racial/ethnic identity categories and am asked to tick only one box. I usually don't tick 'Yes' for 'Are you of Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander descent' simply because of the bureaucratic thinking behind the question and the way it often makes no difference except to allow some university or government bureaucrat to claim a certain number of 'minority' people in the program. I am open about my mixed racial and ethnic heritage, but see no reason to play other people's games. I have no reason to believe people from 'sexual minorities' or with less-than-straight-forward gender or sexuality feel any different on those subjects than I do on the issue of race or ethnicity. I am a great believer in always including 'none of the above' and 'all of the above' as choices when ticking boxes - and 'some combination of the above' would also be useful sometimes. Use open ended question (like those you asked about gender) and allow individuals to choose how they answer the question rather than implying there are certain answers by the way the question is phrased. Kevin Riley --- Original Post: From: Erica Ryan <eryan@rider.edu> Hello all, My classes start next week and I am teaching the history of gender and sexuality in the United States, for the first time. I would love to hear from any of you who have a favorite exercise to use on the first day of class, something to really get undergrads thinking about issues of sex and gender. Many thanks, Erica Ryan
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