no subject

[firecat]

White Feminist Privilege in Organizations
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/22/957012/-White-Privilege-Diary-Series-

Comments

[outlier_lynn]

Every single organization I've been part of over the years wants to attract more members. Most want to attract more people who are different from the current membership. And every single one of those organizations had the best of intentions for getting bigger and broader in membership.

And every single one of them suffered from the all-too-human failing of believing that everyone else is just like them. Most people have no idea how to put themselves in someone else's shoes. They can see no points of view but their own and the one that opposes theirs. That's it.

I often asked the question "What's in it for them?" And the answer was always from the dominant point of view. This was nowhere more clear than in queer activism. The gay-male groups could no see any discrimination that gay-female might deal with that was not also something the gay-male was dealing with. Add bisexuals and the dismissal was even louder.

I joined a national feminist organization/choice organization about 30 years ago. They were happy to have me until they discovered that Lynn's middle name was Bruce. I signed a check to them that had my full name printed on the check. I never heard from them again. Established non-profits don't just lose their donors' information. That one did.

I followed your link expecting the content (although better stated than similar content I've read). It takes perseverance to cause a shift in the way individuals and groups view the world such that minority groups are represented in large dominant-culture organizations. Sometimes it is worth it. Usually, though, it is not. Organizational diversity in volunteer groups is almost never sustainable.

It is the nature of human beings to be concerned with what is immediate to them. Most people really cannot maintain an interest in what is only of concern to others. We just aren't evolutionarily wired to appreciate any point of view that diverges significantly from our own. Some people train themselves to be pretty good at it, but not in numbers large enough to have a lasting impact on a large organization.

Marginalized people are not marginalized out of malice (that comes later). They are marginalized because people are ill-equipped to deal with differences.