Links to things that are good

[elaby]

I've been trying to educate myself about my areas of privilege and how to stop perpetuating stereotypes and stop participating in the perpetuation of oppression, and I think this article has a lot of helpful things to say and links to other helpful articles besides.

The article is this guide for privileged fans by rhipowered. Not only is this article full if useful links, it also points out several things that I found very helpful as a privileged person wanting to read and understand discussions of privilege. Among these are the idea that people can be privileged in some areas and underprivileged in others and we have to accept being uncomfortable because of the privileges we enjoy; that someone saying "this thing you said is racist/ableist/sexist etc" does not mean the person pointing this out thinks you are racist/ableist/sexist etc; and that it's everyone's own responsibility to educate themselves and not the responsibility of the underprivileged person you want to discuss issues with. These are only a few of the helpful-learning things I've been reading about :)

I found the whole post, as well as the articles I read that it links to, understandable and helpful as someone who is new to this and wants to learn what to avoid and what to do in discussions on topics like this. I'm also pleased that, personally, I've moved past the "OMG the world is filled with horribleness that makes me want to hide under my bed instead of learn more!" stage in my reading of this kind of discourse.

Ohgod, I just used the term "discourse" in seriousness and automatically and without cringing. Could it be that the grad school stigma has worn off?

Comments

[coastal-spirit.livejournal.com]

I haven't read through all the links yet, but I found this to be helpful and somewhat enlightening. I've been hearing so much about this subject lately from all over, and although many of the concepts discussed are not new to me, the idea of understanding our own areas of privilege is. The best we can do is to educate ourselves and try to apply what we learn, thus improving our understanding without beating ourselves up for any mistakes we might make along the way.

One of my favorite quotes from the article is this:

It's possible to like stuff that's problematic. Nearly everything I like fucks up in some way. You just have to recognise the issues at hand, be willing to criticise them, and be willing to accept and understand people who are hurt.

I think this is important to note.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

thus improving our understanding without beating ourselves up for any mistakes we might make along the way.

Yeah, exactly. One of the things I've been reading a lot is about how you will screw up, some time or another, and you just have to be able to accept it and apologize and learn from it rather than going "Augh, forget it!"

I liked that quote too :) And I also think it's important. Thank you ^_^ I'm glad you found this useful and interesting!