The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression
When I think of an incident of when I have witnessed someone
else as the target of oppression, I think of my two daughters. Unfortunately, more times than I would care
to admit they get into verbal slights with each other. They will say things to “dig” at the other
person in order to put the other one down and make the other one feel bad about
their looks, their personality, or their grades. They are only saying these things to build
their own selves up and to feel more superior to the other, thus diminishing
any sense of equity in the household. I
know that they are being sisters, and it reminds me of how my own sister and I
interacted as teenagers; however, I try to instill in them that words do hurt. We recently watched the movie The Breakfast
Club together. There are so many
incidences of stereotyping and microaggressions throughout this movie. I used this as an opportunity to talk with
them about how we often judge people based on the way they look and act and
how words can really be painful. They
agreed that it was very similar to how high school is today. I hope that by talking with them when they
start these verbal attacks on each other and by addressing them in the moment,
they will learn the uselessness of them.
I think seeing a movie like The Breakfast Club where the insults were so
blatant and real-life for them, also made them realize how painful and
oppressing words can be.
Tanen, Ned & Hughes, John (Producers) , & Hughes,
John (Director), (1985) The
Breakfast
Club [Motion Picture], United States: Universal Studios.
Dianne,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. What a great way to teach your daughters about hurtful words. You are so right that slights, as well as prejudices and bias are useless. Not only do they really not serve a purpose, except differentiation, they harm the perpetrator as much as the victim. It's a hard lesson but a powerful one.
Dianne,
ReplyDeleteYour experience reminded me of Dr. Sue's (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011) recommendation for for prevention of denigrating others was to promote cooperative environments not competitive situations. Our society has promoted through media that you can not be intelligent, beautiful or special unless her are "more" than someone else. I would hope we can help children recognize that the goals they set for themselves are the measure of their successes.
Reference
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Microagressions in everyday life. [Web video]. Baltimore, MD.
Dianne, thanks for sharing your personal experience straight from your own home! I have never seen The Breakfast Club, but you have now sparked my interest. I can't wait to watch it and see if I can identify microaggressions myself.
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