DList
Groups
|
Power Dynamics |
||||
|
Category: Art & Music Description: A virtual safe-space to discuss issues of power and dominance in the gay male community/communities as they relate to race, class, gender presentation, and ethnicity. Type: public Created By: QueerRocket
|
Heavy Topics Herein!!!
RULES:
1. Criticize ideas, not people.
2. Acknowledge that people are here to grow in self-awareness. That is a bumpy ride, and sometimes people need to express some really foolish ideas before coming around.
3. If you're only here to defend your positions on race/class/gender presentation/ethnicity and not appreciate where other people are at, you don't belong here.
PRINCIPLES OF ANTI-OPPRESSION
1. Power and privilege play out in our group dynamics and we must continually struggle with how we challenge power and privilege in our practice.
2. We can only identify how power and privilege play out when we are conscious and committed to understanding how racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other forms of oppression affect each one of us.
3. Until we are clearly committed to anti-oppression practice all forms of oppression will continue to divide our movements and weaken our power.
4. Developing a anti-oppression practice is life long work and requires a life long commitment. No single workshop is sufficient for learning to change one's behaviors. We are all vulnerable to being oppressive and we need to continuously struggle with these issues.
5. Dialogue and discussion are necessary and we need to learn how to listen non defensively and communicate respectfully if we are going to have effective anti-oppression practice. Challenge yourself to be honest and open and take risks to address oppression head on.
ANTI-OPPRESSION PRACTICE
These practices are based on a series on conversations on the issue of racism. We recognize that there are many other forms of oppression that must be addressed. We have taken these practices and attempted to generalize them to other forms of oppression. This list is a beginning and it needs to be expanded upon. In the future we will continue discussions on all forms of oppression.
* When witnessing or experiencing racism, sexism, etc interrupt the behavior and address it on the spot or later; either one on one, or with a few allies.
* Give people the benefit of the doubt. Think about ways to address behavior that will encourage change and try to encourage dialogue, not debate.
* Keep space open for anti-oppression discussions; try focusing on one form of oppression at a time - sexism, racism, classism, etc.
* Respect different styles of leadership and communication.
* White people need to take responsibility for holding other white people accountable.
* Try not to call people out because they are not speaking.
* Be conscious of how much space you take up or how much you speak.
* Be conscious of how your language may perpetuate oppression.
* Don't push people to do things just because of their race and gender, base it on their word and experience and skills.
* Promote anti-oppression in everything you do, in and outside of activist space.
* Avoid generalizing feelings, thoughts, behaviors etc. to a whole group
* Set anti-oppression goals and continually evaluate whether or not you are meeting them.
* Don't feel guilty, feel motivated. Realizing that you are part of the problem doesn't mean you can't be an active part of the solution!
RULES:
1. Criticize ideas, not people.
2. Acknowledge that people are here to grow in self-awareness. That is a bumpy ride, and sometimes people need to express some really foolish ideas before coming around.
3. If you're only here to defend your positions on race/class/gender presentation/ethnicity and not appreciate where other people are at, you don't belong here.
PRINCIPLES OF ANTI-OPPRESSION
1. Power and privilege play out in our group dynamics and we must continually struggle with how we challenge power and privilege in our practice.
2. We can only identify how power and privilege play out when we are conscious and committed to understanding how racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other forms of oppression affect each one of us.
3. Until we are clearly committed to anti-oppression practice all forms of oppression will continue to divide our movements and weaken our power.
4. Developing a anti-oppression practice is life long work and requires a life long commitment. No single workshop is sufficient for learning to change one's behaviors. We are all vulnerable to being oppressive and we need to continuously struggle with these issues.
5. Dialogue and discussion are necessary and we need to learn how to listen non defensively and communicate respectfully if we are going to have effective anti-oppression practice. Challenge yourself to be honest and open and take risks to address oppression head on.
ANTI-OPPRESSION PRACTICE
These practices are based on a series on conversations on the issue of racism. We recognize that there are many other forms of oppression that must be addressed. We have taken these practices and attempted to generalize them to other forms of oppression. This list is a beginning and it needs to be expanded upon. In the future we will continue discussions on all forms of oppression.
* When witnessing or experiencing racism, sexism, etc interrupt the behavior and address it on the spot or later; either one on one, or with a few allies.
* Give people the benefit of the doubt. Think about ways to address behavior that will encourage change and try to encourage dialogue, not debate.
* Keep space open for anti-oppression discussions; try focusing on one form of oppression at a time - sexism, racism, classism, etc.
* Respect different styles of leadership and communication.
* White people need to take responsibility for holding other white people accountable.
* Try not to call people out because they are not speaking.
* Be conscious of how much space you take up or how much you speak.
* Be conscious of how your language may perpetuate oppression.
* Don't push people to do things just because of their race and gender, base it on their word and experience and skills.
* Promote anti-oppression in everything you do, in and outside of activist space.
* Avoid generalizing feelings, thoughts, behaviors etc. to a whole group
* Set anti-oppression goals and continually evaluate whether or not you are meeting them.
* Don't feel guilty, feel motivated. Realizing that you are part of the problem doesn't mean you can't be an active part of the solution!
group
Members (28)
[View all Members] |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
group
Pictures (0)
[View all Pictures]
No group pictures have been uploaded.
group
Discussion (5)
[View all Discussions]|
Prop 8: Wake Up Call to LGBT Comm On Race |
||
|
Posted By: pom_spekter on: 11/15/08 11:17 AM |
||
|
Ballot Initiative Should Provide a Wake Up Call to LGBT Community About Race
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=3C6077392098532CAEF4826129553BC4?diaryId=8013 |
|
|
One Queer Person Not Celebrating Gay Marriage |
||
|
Posted By: pom_spekter on: 11/15/08 11:13 AM |
||
|
|
Why One Queer Person Is Not Celebrating California's Historic Gay Marriage Decision
http://www.alternet.org/sex/86574/ |
|
|
Can the LGBT Community Spare Some Rage? |
||
|
Posted By: pom_spekter on: 11/15/08 11:03 AM |
||
|
|
Can the LGBT Community Spare Some Rage for Duanna Johnson?
http://www.angrybrownbutch.com/2008/11/13/duanna-johnson/ |
|
|
China's Gays |
||
|
Posted By: greenthink on: 5/15/08 9:51 PM |
||
|
I have just finished a research project on gays in China and thought it would be interesting to share some of my findings.
A really, really short history of homosexuality in China: People didn't really care about Lesbians prior to 1911 when the Nationalists took the stage. This was due to social reasons of women being akin to cattle in a society. There was no word in Chinese for a homosexual as it was considered a behavior (it is possible in the Chinese language to "do" homosexuality). Most of the recorded literature on ancient Chinese homosexuality concerns the relations between young boys or servants and their scholar-gentry masters. After the Nationalist revolution there was a sprint to revolutionize Chinese society by importing Western technologies and philosophies along with this came the mistaken notion as homosexuality as an illness. More to come... |
|
|
RE: China's Gays |
||
|
Replied By: qualtagh on: 5/15/08 12:33 AM |
||
|
I remember reading that in ancient China people refer to gay men as having a "cut-sleeve fetish". It came from the story of a Chinese emperor who was particularly fond of one of his servants and slept with him every night. One night he needed to get up and go to the bathroom, but one of his sleeves was under his lover's head. In order not to wake him up, the emperor used a pair of scissors (or whatever they had at the time in China) to sever the sleeve from his robe... | |
|
RE: RE: China's Gays |
||
|
Replied By: greenthink on: 5/15/08 9:35 PM |
||
|
|
This is true, however this term does not properly connote homosexual in the way that we would think of it today. Nor does it properly connote a man who is sexually interested in men. This term is mostly about class. It refers to a period in which emperors and aristocracy would pick the most attractive boys and girls from their populous and have them as courtesans. The boys that were picked as courtesans were not viewed in the eyes of society as any different from the female courtesans. This is due to class constructs. Courtesans essentially were a class of sex objects whose gender was unimportant. | |
|
RE: China's Gays--Pirates! |
||
|
Replied By: rebellitor on: 5/15/08 12:42 PM |
||
|
I just got a book about pirates that has a fascinating chapter on the practice of homosexuality between Chinese pirates. It's called Bandits At Sea, and is from NYU Press. The chapter is by Dian Murray and focuses on the practice of homosexuality by non-elite Chinese, unlike Passions of the Cut Sleeve. Dian describes the way in which many times pirates would abduct beautiful teenaged boys, force them to have sex as an initiation and eventually adopt them as heirs, even if they were married. In one case, after the death of one pirate, his wife married his adopted heir and became his lover. Chinese pirates frequently had women on board their ships, as either wives or concubines, and apparently freely had sex with men and women as they chose, though their partners did not often have the same level of "choice". Anyway, it was interesting to read. | |
|
RE: China's Gays |
||
|
Replied By: greenthink on: 5/15/08 9:51 PM |
||
|
|
Political power for gays in China stems from the unintended consequences of political and economic reform during the Dengist period and the ability of gay, or more properly tongzhi, organizations to find ways to organize that did not pose a threat to the state. The combination of these allowed tongzhi to form a loose network of organizations and websites that by collaboration with academics gave them some political sway in the party state system. This has mainly been limited to the upper levels of government, as social prejudices instituted by past governments rule the streets. | |
|
coming out/the closet/on the DL |
||
|
Posted By: QueerRocket on: 5/2/08 8:06 AM |
||
|
|
I just wanted to write out some thoughts here in the hopes that they might spark discussion.
I've been thinking for a while that the gay liberation movement of the 70's and the equality movement of the 90's and 2000's has had positive impacts in many communities of people with less common gender identities, sexualities, and sexual orientations around the globe, the cultures of those movements are really white and upper middle class. I've been noticing that coming out to one's nears and dears is seen as an assumption; that everyone must do it because it's crucial to self-acceptance and self-actualization. My opinion is that holding or applying that assumption to other cultural contexts or niches is not only ignorant (insofar as it shouldn't be an *assumption*), but it can cut off mutual understanding, and inform bad policy ( I think many gay men, particularly baby-boomers in my experience, don't understand why someone wouldn't prioritize the value of coming out over staying rooted in a community that wouldn't accept someone's out status as belonging to a subordinated sexual orientation/gender identity/etc. More importantly, I think middle class gay rights folks don't understand (and aren't interested in understanding) why many people in various communities *can't* sever their ties to communities that wouldn't accept them if they came out because they are dependent on resources in those communities (job, family, knowledge, etc.). This is all I can write for the moment. I'd love to come back and write some specific open-ended discussion questions, but I'd love it even more if someone could grab the ball and run. We'll see which happens first. |
|
|
RE: coming out/the closet/on the DL |
||
|
Replied By: modeux on: 5/2/08 8:06 AM |
||
|
|
i agree with what you're saying. i think every one of us remembers being in the closet at one point in our lives, and it wasn't a very comforting feeling. the thought of being ostracized by the most important people in my life scared the crap out of me. lucky, i was one of the fortunate ones who was blessed enough to have a family who accepted me, but i've known many people who have had to stay in the closet for their own reasoning, be it religious, or fear of losing family or friends. from my own experience, many gays out there are quick to judge closeted homosexuals (or even bisexuals), though i feel we should be more sympathetic. it's bad enough we face intolerance from people all around us, why continue such a hostile attitude to those we should have the most compassion and understanding for? | |