The weekend was great! Justin and I spent a lot of time with family and friends after a long week of work and school. My classes began last week Thursday and went really well. It will consist of a lot of reading and papers, but it looks manageable. Hopefully I will feel the same when my practicum begins.
During one of my seminars last week at U of M a white male stood up and said that because there are not many males in the Social Work profession he now understands what it means to be a minority. He is in classes consisting mostly of females and is very uncomfortable at times making comments because he feels that all the females in the room are stereotyping him before he even speaks. I thought it was interesting to hear a white male claim to be a minority in our world. Shortly after, an African American woman stood up and said, "there is no situation where a white male is ever a minority in this world. White males always have privilege and power, whether they are one of many or the majority of people in the room."
What does it mean to be a minority. Can a white male ever claim to be one? It is obvious that in our profession that a white male will move up the ladder more quickly than will anyone else. Do white males have the right to connect themselves with that term?
I also attended a "Gender Identity" seminar where I had to stand up and introduce myself and be identified with whatever it said on my card. I began, "My name is Dawn and I am a bisexual (which was on my card)." Everyone went around and claimed to either be lesbian, gay, transgender, asexual, bisexual, or transsexual. Then we talked about our reactions. I responded saying that I was uncomfortable, not because I was claiming to be bisexual but rather because I never introduce myself normally including my sexual orientation. A woman then responded back to me that, it is a privilege to not have to say that I am straight when I introduce myself. I begged to differ. Does it really matter whether or not we are straight, lesbian, or gay? Should it be a part of an introduction to someone I just meet? If I had AIDS, would I have to make sure that was out on the table too? What poses privilege and what doesn't?
Anyways, enough about my thoughts. Enjoy the day embracing diversity, love, and acceptance of everyone. Praise God that we aren't all the same!
posted by Justin and Dawn Beck @ Monday, September 11, 2006
2 comments
2 Comments:
Dawn-
Interesting thoughts! I guess for the fellow who felt as if he was minority it comes down to semantics. Grammatically speaking, yes he was a minority because he was literally in the minority, correct? However, the lady's response that you shared seems correct to me. I don't think, in the way of being oppresed, as minorites are usually, white males will ever be the minority - at least here in the US. So I guess you have to come at it from each person angle. Yes he was in the minority, but not in the sense the other woman ties to the term minority. Great stuff though.
The other idea about introducing yourself by your name and sexual identity is very odd. I really have never had someone say to me, "Hi, I am John Doe, and I am heterosexual." It is just not naturaly...I feel like sexual orientation is a part of a person that is shared when friendships have been created, or they are naturally figured out on there own?
Sounds like you have some fun classes! I hope they are going well. Hopefully you can have a dinner with us all one of these night!
Peace
Hey, for me it's been crazy living as the "minority" in a different country...just something I've never dealt with for a long period of time. I am a minority just because I'm one of the few white people...but, like Caleb said, I'm not really being oppressed or anything like the "minorities" in many countries. Yeah, I stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd, but people here look at white people like they're ABOVE them...I hate that. I do get sick of being white and having men say stupid comments to me on the streets though, I guess that's my way of being "oppressed". I wish I could just blend in!
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