Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

The example of microaggression I observed this week was in the form of a poster for the AHF, the Aids Healthcare Foundation I saw on a bus.  I considered this a form of microaggression because it was designed and with good intentions and meant to be positive but ends up marginalizing gay men by exhibiting certain stereotypes.  The poster showed 6 men with their arms around each other smiling, standing in a line with either the words “HIV +” or “HIV -” written on their shirts.  Each man had a different shirt representing one color of the rainbow. Yet, on closer observation I realized that they were not wearing shirts, they had been painted on their bare chests.  It bordered the line of sexual objectification and I didn’t like that all the men were clean cut, groomed and in muscular shape.  As a gay man I would feel very offended of this stereotyping of what a person of my sexual orientation looks like.  Not every gay man looks like that and not every gay man is AIDS positive. Furthermore, AIDS does not only affect one group or type of person and I feel like this poster was alluding to certain things.  I felt upset and uncomfortable that this organization would put out such a visual.  I feel they went too far.

This observation affirmed my perception of the effects of stereotypes on people.  I see even more that stereotypes are socially created and it is the media that perpetuates them.  That even helpful organizations like the AHF can use stereotypes will good intentions in mind but that their effects on people could be interpreted differently.  I was a little shocked that I, a straight, HIV negative, woman reacted so strongly that I looked up AHF to learn what it stood for since the poster did not explain the acronym.  I was offended and thought about what children on the bus might think when they saw it.  Children are curious, they might ask what it means and they might come to learn stereotypes from just one small visual.  

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Pat-

I always have to think: what do I think of when someone refers to a culture? I think of music, values, food, clothes, important places, entertainment, and family traditions. I'm not fond of American culture but that's what I grew up with. I've often said white people, American white people, don't have a culture, but that's obviously not true. Unfortunately, a lot of our "culture" has been exported, to the detriment of others' cultures I believe. Values probably play the biggest role in the development of culture. So American values revolve around acquiring money and things. That seems to dominate American culture. The exportation of those beliefs have ruined some countries and cultures in my opinion.

Diversity to me has to do with people but it certainly has to do with culture. A diverse culture would accept lots of different music, ideas, traditions. And, of course, I think diversity is highly important for open mindedness and growth. Diversity means different kinds of people--like Oakland is a very diverse city in the number of people of different ethnic backgrounds and languages and cultures and sexual orientations. But diversity as I said can refer to lots of things, like music, ideas, and traditions. A person can have a diverse music library or book library or whatever. My children celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah because of their "diverse" parents.

Ana-

Culture is about heritage, roots and background but also has a lot to do with the experiences one has.  Culture is influenced by things like location, surroundings, values and your particular upbringing. 

Diversity is different backgrounds and embracing shared cultures and accepting peoples’ experiences that are different from your own.

Kelly-

Culture is highly personal and is a hybrid of influences including an individual’s age, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, socio-economic levels, home life, family structures, language, and geographic location to name just a few.  Culture is ever-evolving depending on an individual’s experience. One may be born into a culture, but one can also enter a culture based on personal preferences.

A diverse population is when there are differences among a group of individuals in one or more of the areas that impact an individual’s culture. For instance, this may occur within one ethnic group when there is a variety of ages or when individuals are gathered from different areas though they may share a cultural background. A population grows more diverse when there is an increase of different views and experiences based on culture.

However, promoting diversity has a goal of ensuring that all individuals feel safe, despite their differences, so I would argue that authentic diversity occurs when/if this is established.

Juan-

My definition of culture is ethnicity of a person, their background where they come from. Culture encompasses food, character and customs.

My definition of diversity is that you are a part of a certain group within the population.  It means there is a label of where you came from.  It means a mixture of people with different backgrounds.

There are aspects of culture and diversity I have studied in this course that are included in the answers. For example, in the video segment this week Janet Gonzalez-Mesa mentions how culture can vary from little things to big things (Laureate Education. Inc., 2011).  From the responses that I got, everyone defined culture with a range of all of these things that included both surface and deep culture.  The aspect that was omitted was social identity.  I think it is important to note how people create their social identities and how those can be a part of culture.  There can also be sub cultures.

Thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics.  It helped me see that there are common and shared understandings of these words.  This was demonstrated in the similar definitions from different people.  For example, there was multiple mentions of ethnicity, values and every single person used the word “background” in their definitions.  The word “background” is used to describe ethnicity and culture in a sense but is also used to describe ones upbringing and experiences growing up.  These experiences help shape who we are uniquely within a cultural group.

Reference

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Culture and diversity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

My Family Culture

The three items I would choose would be things that always bring the family together.  I would bring my fathers’ ipod, the tortilla maker and a San Marcos blanket.  These items mean a lot to me in different ways. 

The ipod holds all of the music that I grew up with and music is such a big part of my family.  It connects me to the country where my parents are from and because it is in Spanish it connects me though language as well.  I grew up with music everywhere and heard it all the time, while my mother was cooking, as we ate, while cleaning even while showering everyone has the radio on.  I remember my mothers’ records, my fathers’ eight-track in the old pickup truck and all the cassette tapes.  It’s so great to have all of those songs and memories in a more compact and portable device.

The tortilla maker, “tortillera”, was my grandmas’, “abuelitas”, and now my mother uses it.  Tortillas can also be made by hand but for rounder and faster production the tortilla maker is better because it presses the “masa” more efficiently.  We also use it to make tamales.  I learned how to help make tamales when I was really young.   I even had my own smaller tortillera that I would make small tamales with.  I remember my uncle, always asking me to make him some.  When we make tamales everyone has their job and we work in an assembly line around the dinner table talking and sharing the work.  I have all of these great memories that come to mind when I think about the tortillera.

The brand of these blankets is “San Marcos” and every member of the family has their own.  They come in different sizes and I have had three.  The small one I had when I was little is white and pink with a teddy bear on it.  I remember asking my dad to wrap me up like a burrito in it, and he would.  The twin sized one is maroon and beige with a deer on it.  That is the one I had growing up and eventually took to college with me.  I have a queen sized one now that is black and blue with a tiger on it.  My sisters’ is pink and white with roses on it.  My mothers’ is green and black with a Koi fish on it.  My father’s is teal and black with an elk on it.  When we visit family out of town or go camping these are the blankets we take with us.  Not only are they soft and warm they are also made in Mexico where we bought them and then brought them over.  They hold many memories of warmth and family.

If I were told I had to give up two items and only keep one I would feel devastated.  Each item holds so many different memories and I would hate to lose that tangible connection to them. 

This exercise helped me realize how important family culture is and how fortunate I am to have wonderful memories that are connected to these items.  I realize how hard it would be to narrow it down to three or one item to keep with me.  I think about the items other people would choose might be different but how the reasons for choosing them is probably the same.  It really is autonomous what the item is because we give it significance and meaning by making it a part of our family culture.