The questions below explore key themes in the Feeling Judged story, such as body judgement, peer pressure, fitting in, and the everyday pressures girls face to look or act a certain way.
The guide can be used in classrooms, youth groups, or other informal settings with young people.
You can also read about the research that informed Feeling Judged.
Tips for using the guide
- Use the questions as a starting point: you can skip, adapt, or build on them depending on your group.
- The questions can be discussed verbally in groups, but they can also be used for journaling or paired with creative activities, such as zine-making, mind-mapping, collage-making, or poster-making.
- There are no right or wrong answers – the aim is to create space for thoughtful conversation and reflection.
Before beginning, it can help to agree on some ethical guidelines as a group, such as listening without interrupting, avoiding judgemental language, and respecting one another’s privacy by not sharing others’ comments outside the discussion. This can help create a respectful and thoughtful space where everyone feels safe to share. If harmful, stigmatising, or discriminatory comments arise during the discussion:
- Pause the conversation and address the comment calmly.
- Reaffirm the purpose of the discussion: to reflect together in a way that respects everyone’s experiences.
- Redirect the conversation, emphasising that all views should be shared without harm to others.
- If the comment is serious or targeted, follow your school or organisation’s safeguarding and reporting procedures.
Part 1: Reflecting on the comic
These questions explore Mira’s experiences in the comic and how they relate to real-life experiences.
- What are your thoughts about Mira’s experience in the comic?
- Do you think people in your school have experiences like this? Which parts felt familiar or different to you?
- What kinds of emotions do you think Mira is feeling, and why?
- How do things like judgement, gossip, or trying to fit in affect how Mira sees or feels about herself and her body?
- What do the comments or reactions in the story suggest about how girls are expected to look or act? Where do you think these expectations come from?
- Do you think these expectations or ideas help girls feel good, or do they make things harder? How might they affect the way girls feel about themselves?
Part 2: School, pressure, and belonging
These questions focus on your own school or peer environment and how it connects to the themes in the comic.
- Do you feel that school is a space where everyone feels welcome and able to be different? Why or why not?
- Where in school do you think judgement is most common or visible, and are there any spaces where you feel safer or more like yourself?
- How do things like gossip, judgement, or body shaming (in school or online) affect how people feel or behave?
- Do you think girls are treated differently than boys when it comes to how they’re expected to look or act? Where do you think those ideas come from?
- Do you think “fitting in” ever means changing how you look or act? Why might people feel pressure to do that?
Part 3: Key question – Imagining change
What changes would need to happen in school to make things better for girls, so they don’t feel judged, compared, or pressured to look or act a certain way?
You might also want to think about:
- What about families? Are there things that could change at home to help girls feel more accepted and supported?
- How could social media be different?
- And what about society more generally, what bigger changes do you think are needed?
Feedback: We would love to hear from you
If you have used Feeling Judged and this discussion guide in your classroom or any other setting, we would love to hear about it. Your reflections help us understand how Feeling Judged is being used and how we can continue creating resources that are useful, accessible, and meaningful. Sharing feedback is entirely optional and will not be used for research purposes.
You might choose to share:
- How you used the comic and guide
- Who you shared it with
- What kind of conversations or reflections it sparked
- Any adaptations you made to the resource
- Suggestions for future versions or additional materials