Bridge Called Respect
Women and Men Joining as AlliesBy Tom Owen-Towle and January Riddle
- Theme and Description
- This curriculum gives extensive rationale for men and women coming together to explore and address gender issues. It details plans for workshops and additional activities, including a 31-day daily plan for non-romantic female-male pairs.
- Goals for Participants
- To inform and inspire men and women to work together to better understand and respect each other;
To deepen nonsexual cross-gender ties at work and at play.
- Age Range
- Adult, mature youth
- Size of Group
- One male and one female (daily plan) 20-40 participants, with male and female co-leaders (workshop)
- Space Requirements
- One meeting room with comfortable seating, large enough to accommodate the entire group in a circle and also have space for altar, food, and resource tables.
A break-out room to use when males and females meet separately.
- Number and Length of Sessions
- 2 sessions
Length: Friday, from 6-10, including dinner; Saturday, from 8:30 AM - 8:30 PM - Leader Training
- None required, but leaders must be emotionally stable, effective co-facilitators, able to model collaboration and respect. They also need to have read The Bridge Called Respect which includes 35 pages of background and rationale for the workshop.
- Leader Preparation
- Read curriculum: ~ 2 hours
Plan with Co-Leader: ~ 4 hours
- Strengths
- Well-tested activities and format (used numerous times by the authors prior to publishing the curriculum);
Good variety of activities to appeal to diverse learning styles and personalities;
Effective use of “Bridge” imagery;
Very thorough list of suggested ground rules or guidelines;
Generally thorough and useful explanations for leaders. - Limitations
- Leaders are told to develop their own 20-minute presentation of rationale for the workshop. There is plenty of material given in the first 35 pages of the book, but minimal guidance is given as to how to organize or present this material so that participants are engaged.
The book’s understanding of sex and gender is limited to male and female, men and women. It does not make provisions for participants who identify as transgender or intersex. - Adaptability
- Portions of the workshop could be used for a single morning, evening, or 2 hour conference session.
Following the workshop, a group might choose to meet on an ongoing basis.
- Unitarian Universalist Values
- This curriculum is strongly rooted in the core Unitarian Universalist values of individual worth and dignity and the interconnectedness of all. With the focus on bridge-building and respect, it promotes responsibility, understanding, fairness, and peace.
Reviewed on February 12, 2006
|
Curricula
