Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Linda Langford" <>]

I wanted to add my thanks to Monica and all who have responded to this 
thread, especially for the reminder that I need to constantly monitor and 
work to understand my own identity-based privilege(s) based on being (for 
example) straight, white, middle-class, and "degreed," and to be aware of the 
effects of this privilege on everything I think/say/do. While it's easy for 
me to notice situations in which others have privilege, it's generally harder 
to see my own privilege. The discussion prompted me to go back and reread two 
pieces which helped me to gain some insight about what it means to have 
privilege (or at least to recognize examples of it a bit better), and I 
thought others on the list might find them interesting. By sharing these 
pieces I don't mean to imply that they are definitive or even "correct," only 
that I found them thought-provoking and helpful.

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
http://www.case.edu/president/aaction/UnpackingTheKnapsack.pdf

Coming Out to my Homophobia and Heterosexism: Lessons Learned in the Journey 
of an Ally by Alan Berkowitz
http://www.alanberkowitz.com/articles/coming_out.pdf

Thanks again for this conversation.
Linda


Linda Langford, Sc.D.
Associate Center Director, Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug 
Abuse and Violence Prevention
www.HigherEdCenter.org
55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA  02458-1060
voice (800) 676-1730 x2719 OR (617) 618-2719 (direct line)
fax (617) 928-1537


-----Original Message-----
From: 

 
[mailto:]
 On Behalf Of Newton, Nanci
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 5:14 PM
To: 

Subject: Thanks to Monica

I appreciate and applaud Monica's speaking out and speaking up on this
listserve, and regret my own silence (our silence will not protect us!).
As a white middle-class woman I know that I must be constantly vigilant
to my own sense of privilege and how it leaks out in what I say and do.
I also know that it is not up to those with less privilege than me to be
my guide-but they have every right to tell me when I am offending.  Then
it is up to me to do the self-examination and truth-seeking that it
takes to recommit myself to that constant vigilance I must embrace.  As
a woman, a lesbian, a survivor, a 60-year old, and a battle-scarred
warrior in this movement and this beloved work, I know what it is like
to be offended against, and to have those with privilege attempt to
define my reality or to claim my reality as theirs.  I add my voice to
Monica's by asking the men on this listserve to listen and to think of
serving, not laying claim to.  There is much to be done-it must be done
together.  I rejoice in men as allies and brothers in this work, but I
challenge them to commit themselves to constant self-examination and
vigilance.  I would like to add another reference work that has meant
much to the men who have worked by my side to end violence against
women: John Stoltenberg's Refusing to be a Man.

 

In sisterhood to you all,

 

Nanci Newton

 

Director

USF Advocacy Program

University of South Florida

4202 East Fowler Avenue, SVC 1138

Tampa, Florida 33620-6922

Direct Office Line: (813) 974-9904

(813) 974-5756

Fax (813) 974-8589



http://www.usf.edu/advocacy

 

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