Use this workshop to teach all students to feel good about their bodies.
Teaching children about size bias is an important part of multicultural diversity training. Nancy Summer, founding director of the Council on Size & Weight Discrimination , a national organization working to end fat discrimination, started a workshop to help children struggling with weight issues.
Using this 'Kids Come In All Sizes' workshop, Summer has been successful addressing size discrimination with middle school girls. Her goals are to place sizism in the context of other forms of discrimination, to challenge the myths and prejudices, and to brainstorm ways to combat bias.
Follow Summer's guidelines to conduct a workshop of your own.
- Invite students of all sizes. Summer worked with girls, but it is also important for boys to have workshops to discuss body image. Attendance has to be voluntary.
- If possible, have a large-size person lead the group. It is easier for fat students to share when someone else in the room has been identified as fat.
- Summer invites students to think of every derogatory name they've heard such as 'horse,' 'whale,' and 'cow,' then discusses how these animals are beautiful in their own way.
- Share personal stories about body image from your own experiences and the lives of larger people.
- Give students permission to vent about the insults they say and hear others say. Both thin and fat students are victims of size bias. Bullies can be stopped when classmates support each other.
- Once stereotypes about those who are "too fat" or "too thin" have been identified, counter the myths with facts.
- Use newspapers, magazines and television commercials to discuss media representations of beauty. How do we define beauty?
- Let the students role-play, taking on the bully, victim and problem-solver roles. This allows them to practice confronting size bias.
