Microaggression

One example of microaggression that I would like to share this week occurred a few weeks ago.  A young lady that I know text me very upset.  Upon her arrival to work her boss wanted to know who had dropped her off.  The young lady said my friend. Her boss asked well is your friend a boy or a girl.  Before she could reply, her boss informed her that she hoped that her friend knew that she was going to hell.  Gay people are sick and are going to burn in hell.  The young lady was very upset because she had not experienced this situation yet in a professional setting.  She didn’t know how to react and still maintain her employment.  Personally, I am not a supporter of gay and lesbian relationships.  I believe that we are meant to be with a member of the opposite sex because that is what nature intended.  However, I do not impose my beliefs and preferences on anyone outside of my own household.  When I had to console this young lady I told her that everyone has their own beliefs and in the work place it is best to avoid such conversations.  Unfortunately, the lady that was insulting her was her boss.  She is the owner, and therefore there were two choices; brush it under the rug and keep working or confront her and risk her job.  That choice had to be the young lady’s decision. 

This observation/experience made how hurtful and unfair it is to apply your own moral and religious beliefs onto others lives.  Most importantly I found that the “Boss” was completely unprofessional in her behavior.  This experience clarifies for me why, as a professional, you have to understand your own biases and address them so that when working with children and families you are able to embrace the differences that you encounter without negatively impacting their lives.

Culture and Diversity Dialogue

Culture and Diversity Defined

I was asked to interview several people and to ask them to define culture and diversity. Below is the dialogue from those interviews, followed by a brief summary of how these definitions compliment our studies in this course.

            How do you define culture and diversity?

            Melanie J-B

Jenny, Culture is what we identify ourselves as and with. How we perceive to be important to us like family, religious values, dress, clothing and what we most strongly identify ourselves with is culture. Almost a heritage of sorts.

Now diversity is a mixture or combination of cultures within a setting such as work, school, community. We seek diversity in order to better learn about others that differ from us.

Victoria J-H

culture is the way a person is raised~the norms, biases and "unspoken" or understood rules that create the protective boundaries in their lives
diversity is the coming together of multiple cultures wherein the group creates its own norms, biases & boundaries based upon a new set of understood rules that create the protective boundaries for the interest of that particular group.

Cindy S

I would define Culture as to the ethnicity and customs someone has been raised by.

Diversity is different cultures coming together respecting each other’s differences and finding common ground to work things out.

Kay F

I had to share my definitions of culture and diversity.
Culture is the shared learning and experiencing of specific patterns in our surroundings that form and shape us into the people we become with similar values, practices, ideas, speech, and methods of operation.

Diversity is the practice of understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences should be respected.
Good Luck on your class!

There were aspects of culture and diversity that were included in the answers of the interviewees that I have learned about in this course.  In the definitions of culture the interviewees included:  how important we perceive family, religion, clothing, who we identify ourselves with, the way a person is raised, ethnicity and customs.  We have discussed all of these topics in this course.  Their definitions for diversity included; a mixture or combination or cultures in a setting, the coming together of cultures to create a group with its own boundaries, the coming together of culture and respecting each others differences , the practice of understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.

The interviewees omitted any mention of race. 

After listening to the definitions of culture and diversity I realize that all of those that participated understood that culture has a direct correlation to family and who “raises” you.  All of the interviewees made a reference to values, practices, religion or practices of the family that shape us into who we are.  Our culture is who we are.  This is formed by our immediate surroundings.  After this exercise I think that my own feelings about culture and diversity are better supported.  We all have the same general understanding of what culture and diversity means.