Gender creates a rigid construct that can cause harm.
Debra Chasnoff created Ground Spark to produce a number of amazing films. Most of them are documentaries whose stories are told through the combination of childrens’ voices and thoughts.
About Straightlaced
From girls confronting popular messages about culture and body image to boys who are sexually active just to prove they aren’t gay, the students in Straightlaced illustrate the toll that deeply held stereotypes and rigid gender policing have on all of our lives. Straightlaced has been screened at many film festivals across the globe and has won several awards including the CINE Golden Eagle Award 2009, the 2009 Western Psychological Association Film Festival Audience Award, and the Baltimore Women’s Film Festival Award for Best Feature Documentary.
About Debra Chasnoff
“I always wanted to make a difference. Making documentary films that open up dialogue about issues I care about deeply has been the path that’s worked for me.” Debra Chasnoff was an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has fueled progressive social change movements in many fields. She was president and senior producer of GroundSpark. She passed away with cancer in 2017.
Scenes in the Film
There aren’t official scenes in the film but there are indeed a flow of topics you will find as you watch:
- Clothing and Dressing
- Activities and Objects Have Gender
- Body Type Expectations
- Behavior Expectations
- Intelligence Expectations
- Affection and Intimacy Expectations
- Feminine vs Masculine
- Products Made for a Specific Gender
- The Cost of Rigid Gender Roles, Expectations, etc.
- How to Act Differently From What You Have Been Taught
- Gender and Attraction / Love
- Bullying Based on Gender Topics
After Discussion Facilitation Ideas
- Gendo-Meter with items in your space
- What Gender Role Activities do you do just because of your own gender? What have you given up because it doesn’t match your Gender?
- Gender Role Expectations (Body Type, Behaviors, Intelligence, Affection, etc.)
- Binary versus Non-Binary Gender
- Moving Beyond Gender
- Mental Health implications of non-congruous behaviors
- What do you hide because of your gender and/or attraction
- What are your fears of not being “normal”
- As the years have passed, what changes have you made around your own gender (identify, expectations, roles, behaviors, activities, etc.)
- How can we speak up for others who are trying to be their full and authentic selves when others are doing their best to hinder that freedom
The Film
Duration: 1:07
Another post on this site you may enjoy: Inclusion and Product