Self-reflection on body diversity
Objective: Acknowledge our existing knowledge and cognitive biases when relating to people that embody diversity.
Duration: 1 hour
Materials: 1 sheet of paper, 1 pen
Development
Associate one (or more) descriptions/adjectives that you have been taught or have heard at social, cultural, political and family level about the following social categories:
- Women and men
- Fat people
- People of other ethnicities / races / culturethan your own
- Lesbian / gay people
- Transgender people
- People with (dis)abilities
- Elderly people
- People with mental illness
For each category, take a moment to ask yourself:
how have these messages shaped your relationship with these categories of people?
How is this reflected in your work with vulnerable young people?
Do you think you have at any point conveyed these same messages to the young people you work with?
How? Remember that there are many ways to convey a message, not just verbally.
Would you like to change it?
Starting tomorrow, what do you think you can do differently to stop transmitting messages to young people that do not reflect democratic, respectful and egalitarian values?
And now: how can you thank yourself for having given yourself this space for personal revision?
References/resources for further work on the subject
- Taylor, Sonya Renee (2021). The Body Is Not an Apology. 2nd ed. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler.
