One month ago, on February 20, a beautiful project was launched:
1000 Voices for Compassion (#
1000Speak). Bloggers from around the world
linked up providing incredible posts that will touch your soul. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for me to come across this incredible initiative since I am spending 2015 gearing up for my own massive kindness project launch in 2016:
B(e) Kind 366. To keep the momentum of this #1000Speak going a theme for the month of March was created: "Building from Bullying." After reading a lead-up post from one of the 1000Speak masterminds,
The Village NEEDS Namaste, I decided to write a post about stereotypes. It might fall slightly outside the "bullying" box, but I feel it asserts a similar message nonetheless.
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| Identity Collage (home, language, religion) |
I recently attended a workshop called "Effective Collaboration Across Differences" led by Peter Wanyenya, an International Students Adviser from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As we worked through the thought and action processes that lead from stereotypes to all out racism, Mr. Wanyenya asked us if positive stereotypes existed. We were already hyper-aware of the effects of stereotypes so we knew this was a loaded question. "Just toss out a few ideas first," he suggested, "and then we'll discuss whether they are actually positive or not." Hands shot up and the microphone travelled around as participants offered up so-called "positive" stereotypes like, "Asians excel at mathematics," "The elderly have a wealth of wisdom," "Women are very nurturing," and "Gay men have impeccable taste in fashion." These all seemed like positive things. "So what do you think is wrong with these statements then?" Mr. Wanyenya asked us.
We all sat quiet for a brief moment, pondering our facilitator's question and then a few hands went up. "Not all Asians excel at mathematics." "Not all women want children." To summarise the answers to Mr. Wanyenya's final question: All of these "positive" stereotypes are still stereotypes which makes them just as exclusionary as "negative" stereotypes. For example: if we assume that a person who is visibly of Asian decent is a genius at math and we ask that person to tutor us on the subject, how then does that person feel when they have to tell us that they struggle with math as well? The answer: They don't feel very good. And we have gone from thinking we are complimenting someone to actually making them feel inferior without even intending to. That is just one of the many examples of how "positive" stereotypes do not actually exist. I learned a lot at the "Effective Collaboration Across Differences" workshop, but this is one of the lessons that stuck with me and caused me to really pay close attention to the words I say and the actions I take.
For hundreds more blog posts on the topic of "Building Beyond Bullying" visit the #1000Speak
link up!
