Blog Post #13: Racism & Sexism Pt 1

We have discussed briefly racism and sexism in previous blogs. They both are forms of abuse. They can injure both psychologically and physically the person they are directed at. The perpetrator of the abuse they have no intention of being hurtful. They may simply be following the behavior of others and may feel that words, for example, do not hurt but they do. Growing up in the southeast, I had learned by an early age every unkind name one can call a black person.

At the time, I did not see this as being abusive or indicating that I was behaving in a racist manner. But I was. Racism and sexism are part of the of the infrastructure of this country. It is the way organizations in our government function and have functioned for hundreds of years.

Are things changing? Yes but only slowly. We now have a Sec. of Transportation who is openly gay. Have we taken a number of steps back on these issues in the past few years? Undoubtably we have and are continuing to. When state legislators pass laws that will restrict the ability of minority groups to vote there is no question that by doing so we are on the wrong side of history.

One of the main problems is that the structure of government and organizations is usually designed to perpetuate themselves. This explains why there are so few persons of color in Congress or CEOs of large organizations or college presidents. On the issue of sexism a number of research studies have shown that men are more likely to choose a male for a management position that a female unless they make an active effort to choose a person who is different from them either by skin color or sex. Choosing someone who is like us may make us feel more comfortable. Xenophobia may even have some evolutionary base. Somewhere in our dark evolutionary past we may have evolved to avoid creatures that look different from us. Perhaps our survival at that time depended on it. But our survival today in this global society, will depend on our ability to embrace difference and diversity and to not be frightened by or avoid it .

So, if you are a recipient of racism or sexism what do you do about? Perhaps, the first thing to do is to not internalize it. We should not accept it. Refusing to accept the stereotypes and not be okay with them is one of the first steps in pushing back against racism and sexism. We’ll talk more in the next post about how to assert yourself in these situations.

Last of all we need to deal with the feelings that being treated as less than because of your skin color or your sex will bring up. Don't deny that these feelings exist. They most likely do and should. Don’t suppress them or deny them. Find healthy ways of discharging them. Talk with others. And believe that there is something you can do about it. Don't give up. One of the most effective things you can do about it is to turn the anger that you may feel into assertive behavior. Find allies in this process. We as a society need to deal with racism and sexism before they destroy our society.

Ron Breazeale, PhD