Funny Question

[Veronica]

We're talking about gender stereotypes in class yesterday. One of my boys makes the mistake of saying male athletes are better and that's why there are so few women's athletic competitions on TV.

This prompted a great discussion about coporate sponsorship and why has everyone heard about Lance Armstrong but not Paolo Bettini or Danilo DeLuca, never mind any of the great female cyclists- trying so hard to get this kids to be critical thinkers, especially about tv and commercials.

One of my boys actually asked me, "Are you as good a biker as Lance?" Only in my dreams.

Hey any day I get to spend 30 minutes of class time talking about biking - has to be a good day.

V.

[Asphaltgirl]

My daughter rode horses, competively, for many years and it was the only competition/sport, that we found, that was equal for both men and women. It is sad that women's sports have such a low TV viewership. We need a few more Brandi Chastains to stir things up again.
Barb

[Irulan]

V- Nova or maybe Frontline on PBS has done some really interesting shows on marketing targeted to teens. They might make for some stimulating viewing for your kids.

~penny

[RoadRaven]

Good discussion to have

Did you explain that women will never grow the muscle mass that a man could - we're physilogically different?
And therefore, no woman would ever match someone like Lance without some kind of chemical assistance

I think its really important for kids to know and understand this difference, because otherwise they can grow up assuming that women aren't as "good"

But if they understand the physiological differences, then they will understand why we have women's bike races, women's marathons/sprints etc

But the coorporate favouitism toward male sport is, I agree, shocking and unjustifiable. Half of the planet is female - I'm sure their (the corporations) advertising would be just as watched/supported inside womens sports as they would inside mens

[Veronica]

Oh yeah, I'm doing sex ed right now. Not my favorite thing to teach.

V.

[massbikebabe]

V:

I always blush when I have to teach that to kids One of the best teaching clinics I every ran was visited by a female doctor, and a male nurse. The kids were stumped, but asked great questions of both.

karen

[RoadRaven]

Hey, how many of us are teachers here?

I teach adults, and talking about gender in education, and women's place invisibility in history... and how we are creating herstory
I love teaching it...

Granted its not sex education for teenagers... but I do teach 18-20 year olds child development (conception to adolescence) and do get some curly questions... but a bit of humour and it can be fun.