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Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (Ages 9-11)

8 films
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This playlist serves as conversation starters about gender identity and sexual orientation in age-appropriate ways for primary-school children. Educators in particular can use this list to prompt thinking and discussion about how people might express gender or identify with one gender or another; or about why some families might look different from others; or about what love can look like. Films in This Playlist Include Beauty A Short Film About Tegan and Sara John and Michael Sticks and Stones Woman Dress Changes Head Full of Questions Puberty, Part 2

Up next: A Short Film About Tegan & Sara
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Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (Ages 9-11)

This playlist serves as conversation starters about gender identity and sexual orientation in age-appropriate ways for primary-school children. Educators in particular can use this list to prompt thinking and discussion about how people might express gender or identify with one gender or another; or about why some families might look different from others; or about what love can look like.

Films in This Playlist Include
Beauty
A Short Film About Tegan and Sara
John and Michael
Sticks and Stones
Woman Dress
Changes
Head Full of Questions
Puberty, Part 2

Playlist

  • Beauty
    Beauty
    We're sorry, this content is not available in your location.
    Christina Willings 2018 23 min

    Christina Willings’ documentary Beauty explores the lives of five gender-creative kids, each uniquely engaged in shaping their ideas of what it means to be fully human.

  • A Short Film About Tegan & Sara
    A Short Film About Tegan & Sara
    Ann Marie Fleming 2018 4 min

    In this joyful portrait, filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming animates the formative days and musical career of Calgary-born identical twins Tegan and Sara Quin. Their remarkable journey over the past 20 years has often intersected with notions of identity—as artists, as individuals, as sisters, as queer women, and as leading activists in the LGBTQ community. Their musical progression parallels and amplifies their commitment to bringing the marginal to the mainstream.

  • John and Michael
    John and Michael
    Shira Avni 2004 10 min

    This animated short pays tribute to two men with Down syndrome who shared an intimate and profoundly loving relationship that deeply affected the filmmaker. Narrator Brian Davis brings the characters to life with great sensitivity.

  • Sticks and Stones
    Sticks and Stones
    Jan Padgett 2001 17 min

    This short documentary features children aged 5 to 12 talking about their experiences with bullying and discrimination because they or their families do not fit into traditional gender and family roles. This film explores the contemporary diversity of families from kids' points of view, while featuring short animated sequences about the history of derogatory slang.

  • Woman Dress
    Woman Dress
    Theo Jean Cuthand 2019 6 min

    Pre-contact, a Two Spirit person named Woman Dress travels the Plains, gathering and sharing stories. Featuring archival images and dramatized re-enactments, this film shares a Cuthand family oral story, honouring and respecting Woman Dress without imposing colonial binaries on them.

  • Changes
    Changes
    Moira Simpson 1989 18 min

    This film explores the physical and emotional changes associated with puberty. Imaginative, animated sequences illustrate the amazing physical changes the body undergoes. Myths are dispelled and youngsters are encouraged to feel pride in themselves and their emerging sexuality.

  • Head Full of Questions
    Head Full of Questions
    Moira Simpson 1989 19 min

    The first film in the Growing Up series tells curious pre-adolescents the facts they want to know, with an appealing mix of humour and imagination. Topics discussed include sexual attraction and sexual intercourse, fertilization, the growth of an embryo and birth of a baby, as well as a brief look at AIDS and at birth control. Detailed information about relationships is presented through the loving connection between two animated characters, Fred and Anna. The two hosts engage the students in discussion, encouraging them to ask questions and share their thoughts and feelings.

  • Puberty - Part 2
    Puberty - Part 2
    Alanis Obomsawin 1975 17 min

    Elder Marie Leo recounts her experiences going through puberty. Growing up on the Líl̓wat Nation near Mount Currie, B.C., Marie details the important process of preparing for womanhood. The various tasks and duties she undertakes demonstrate a complex, beautiful journey a young Líl̓wat person undergoes as they welcome adulthood and increased responsibilities.

    This short is part of the L’il’wata series. In the early 1970s, at the outset of her documentary career, Alanis Obomsawin visited the Líl̓wat Nation, an Interior Salish First Nation in British Columbia, and created a series of shorts that provide personal narratives about Líl̓wat culture, histories and knowledge.