1. Play the 10 Question Gender Game Download 10 Question Gender Game with someone. Print it out so you can easily use it, write notes on it, take it anywhere, and conceal it if necessary. Instructions are all on the game; if you have questions, watch the optional instructional video embedded at the end of these instructions. You can play the game face-to-face in person, or you could play it on the phone, Zoom, Skype video, or Facetime, but don’t play it via text, email, or messenger. You need to have voice-to- voice communication to play properly. Be sure to take detailed notes while you play, and if you are playing in person, take care to not show your partner the game until it’s all over!
2. Write a paragraph of about 100 words about what it was like playing the game.
What questions did your partner ask?• Were they confused? Amused? Frustrated?• What portrait of the imaginary subject emerged from the questions and answers? • What was your partner’s eventual decision about the person’s gender?
3. Using course lecture and readings for the week, write another paragraph of about 300 words reflecting on the game, the process of playing it, and how both you and your partner felt and reacted.
- What did you learn about yourself and your views of gender?
- What did you learn about how your partner made sense of gender?
- https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/06/black-women-really-do-work-harder-for-less-according-to-a-new-report.html
Ten Question Gender Game
Please read your partner the following paragraph, with appropriate nuance and feeling:
“I am thinking of a person and I want you to tell me not who the person is, but whether that
person is female or male. Do this by asking me ten questions, all of which must be answerable
by “yes” or “no.” You may ask ANY question except “Is the person male?” or “Is the person
female?”. After each question, based on the answer I have given you, tell me, at that point in the
game, whether you think the person is female or male and why you have decided that. Then ask
your next question. You need not stick with your first answer throughout the game, but
regardless of whether you stay with your original choice or change your decision you must, at
each point, explain your choice. At the end of the game I will ask you to give your final decision
on the person’s gender.”
Questions about genitals are acceptable. Any questions are acceptable except “Is the person
male?” or “Is the person female?.”
These are the answers you are to give, in this order:
1. No
2. Yes
3. No
4. No
5. Yes
6. Yes
7. No
8. No
9. No
10. Yes
Think about your answers (or pretend to) before you give them. You are not, of course, thinking
about any particular person. You are playing a game.
You should take notes on what happens during the game. Write down each question that your
partner asks by each answer you give, as well as each decision your partner makes, and each
reason that they give.
When you finish the game, tell the other person about the nature of the game. Show your partner
this sheet of paper (but keep it quiet, so as not to ruin the game for others who are still playing).
Finally, each of you must write for 5 minutes about what you experienced – what you thought,
how you felt, and why.
You may write on this sheet of paper.