MOSAIC - The training kit for Euro-Mediterranean youth work

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Tips for the facilitator
Choose pictures from Euro-Med magazines/Internet sites. Copy or download and
print them out. Try to get pictures that have a similar impact on the viewer: colour
pictures have a different impact from black and white ones; glossy pictures are more
attractive than ones on newsprint; size is also important.
Choose a wide variety of portraits that will provoke comments and discussion
about the points you want to raise: for example, a picture of a punk with lots of
piercings, a Muslim woman in a chador, a bikini-clad bathing beauty, people
in traditional dress, or someone whose gender is not immediately identifiable.
Mount the pictures on large sheets of paper so there is enough margin around
for all the stars, stickers and labels.
Give people 12 of each of the gender stickers so they have the option of recording
both ♀ and ♂ if they think the person is transgender.
The purpose of getting participants to use the worksheet is to encourage them to
think for themselves and express their own opinions without being influenced
by others.
Participants will want to know the “correct” answers to the gender and country
questions. To limit any inhibitions about giving right and wrong answers, try to
get feedback from the participants first and to offer the answers later during the
discussion.
Be aware that the girls/women and boys/men in the group may be interested in
different aspects of the topics. You may like to raise this gender dimension as a
point for discussion or you can leave it as a comment in your closing remarks
at the end of the activity.
Remember that gender is not the same as sex! Avoid providing straightforward
answers if you are not sure about them! Chapter 6 of this T-kit provides useful
background information on the difference between gender and sex.
Variations
Divide participants into homogeneous groups according to cultural background, and
focus on comparing the differences and similarities in the concept of beauty in the
Euro-Med region. Or, perhaps more fun (!), divide the groups according to sex.
Focus on stereotypes and prejudice. Choose pictures according to other issues. For
example, sexuality: can you see if someone is homosexual or lesbian? Or health:
guess who has AIDS? Or gender: what is their job?
Ideas for action
Publish the activity as a quiz in a paper or youth magazine, or use it as an icebreaker
or introduction before a presentation or as part of an international day celebration.
Suggestions for follow-up
Having compared attitudes towards beauty, the group may like to compare attitudes
towards homosexuality; see “Let’s talk about sex” in Compass.
Alternatively, you may like to go on to use the activity “Portraits” in the All different
– All equal education pack to look at images of social success.
Challenge beauty