What does social justice mean to you? Relate your response to the
identity wheel and Genderbread Person v2.0 activity. You may also incorporate the video presented in class in your discussion.
Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.
Your blog posts are due before the start of class next week.
Please email albreaks@ku.edu if you have any questions!
Social justice has evolved over the years, and its focus has shifted from democracy in general (since the American Revolution was, in a way, a push for social justice) to racial equality to LGBT rights. However, the main idea has never changed: social justice is the promotion of equitable treatment of all people. To me, social justice means treating everyone how they would want to be treated. It doesn’t involve a gender-blind or race-blind society; instead, it embraces the things that make us different.
ReplyDeleteThe identity wheel activity in class gave a very good tool in this manner. It allowed us all to see what makes us “different”, to which minorities we might belong. Instead of hiding them away, or simply forgetting them, it gave us each an opportunity to address them and examine how they do affect us and how we might want them to affect us. It gave us a chance to see how others would want to be treated, as well.
The Genderbread Person v2.0 was a more specialized, more sophisticated way of identifying how someone identifies and feels about their gender and sexuality. It’s great in that it can offer many different combinations, and can cover most people’s identifications… something that Facebook has incorporated. Hearing that Facebook had adopted a multiple-option gender selection tool was heartening. It’s a step toward embracing gender and sex differences—not ignoring them.
This progress is the sort of thing that society in general needs. We’re all unique, and stamping that out defeats the purpose of such diverse communities. The end goal of social justice should be everyone receiving equal respect and rights, and everyone being proud about what sets them apart.
To me, social justice is a thing that society has been working towards for a long time, and has only recently been able to achieve. Within the last century and a half, men and women of all races have gained suffrage in America, more equitable treatment by society, and have even made steps towards gaining the rights to abortion and marry anyone of their choosing. But the words, “made steps,” cannot be overemphasized. American society has a long ways to go until it reaches a state of real social justice; it is disappointing because America is one of the most developed and economically prosperous nations on the planet and cannot manage to set a high moral standard for the rest of the world. Other nations should not be looking at America for complete moral guidance, but America has made progress that should be lauded.
ReplyDeleteThe Genderbread person and the identity wheel helped to reinforce what Blane Harding came to speak to KU Alternative Breaks about the week before. I’ve been aware of privilege before Alternative Breaks, but using the identity wheel to map out my own personal identities was a new and eye-opening experience to me. I’ve found that I identify with Asian-Americans more specifically than I do with Asians; being born and raised in the United States, I can relate more closely with Asian-Americans and their culture. While the Genderbread person is a very interesting tool, and I can understand how differently every person can choose to fill theirs out, I had no revelation while using it. I’m a cisgender, heterosexual male, and while I’m still learning about the detailed vocabulary of gender and sex, I have nothing unique to add to the Genderbread person. I really appreciated the video about Facebook including the option for people to self-identify—an option that I was not aware that there was a large demand for—because however small a step it was in the goal of achieving social justice, it shows an increased social awareness of the demands of minority groups and an increased willingness to work with them to achieve their goals at the expense of no one.
A common dictionary definition of the term social justice contains classically restrictive words and phrases, such as “the ability people have to realize their potential in the society where they live,” but the term itself represents anything but a restrictive cause. Wikipedia can fluff up the definition, strategically placing some feel-good words like “fulfilling life” and “fair and equal” throughout to engender the hope of a better tomorrow for all, but the reality in our world, heck, even as close to home as the city of Lawrence, is that as a society, we still have a mile and more to go before we can advertise an effective community thriving on an equal platform of social justice. Although our society has become more forthcoming in outwardly embracing the characteristics that make us all uniquely different, we still face the omnipresent problem of society as a whole accepting those characteristics that differ from the privileged, “average” member of society.
ReplyDeleteThe identity wheel and Genderbread Person v2.0 activities utilized in class gave a good visual representation of what it truly means to embrace the qualities you deem most important for your character. Instead of playing off our differences, we were each given an equal opportunity to sit down and introspectively think about how we want to represent ourselves to others, after all, it is and should be our choice. Giving us a chance to openly see how others in our group wanted us to identify and treat them, I found the identity wheel activity was able to bring my group together in a way that simply talking might not. Likewise, the Genderbread Person v2.0 provided a very individualized way to look at gender and sexuality, something that I had not put such detailed thinking toward beforehand. After being informed of Facebook’s new options for identifing oneself, I found the Genderbread Person quiet enthralling, I can’t say that I have ever seen so many combination of gender and sexuality to identify by -- it certainly emphasized the theology that every single one of us is unique and we all deserve the same equal rights to decide who we wish to represent ourselves as.
In my mind, social justice exists when every individual in a society receives fair and equal treatment without regard to their sex, gender, race, orientation, beliefs, etc. To achieve social justice, a society as a whole has to accept everyone and think of everyone as worthy individuals who deserve respect. I further understood the meaning of social justice after we completed Thursday’s class about the various aspects of identity.
ReplyDeleteThe identity wheel activity on Thursday was eye-opening because I never realized how many different ways there were to identify oneself. It gave me a chance to think about my own identity and to learn more about my group members and what social advantages and disadvantages we all have. I do not often think about how certain aspects of one’s identity like being female, being neuro atypical, or not being able-bodied disadvantages people in everyday life. This activity made me want to be more aware of the social injustices and prejudices people face every day. I also want to pay more attention to how being a female can disadvantage me at certain times.
The Gingerbread Man chart made me more aware of how many different ways social injustices can be committed against people who identify in different ways. I had never thought much about how people can identify their sex, gender, and orientation in so many ways. This image gave me a better look at how unique every person is.
Both activities outlined how everyone is different and identifies in various ways. In a perfect world, none of the identities people are born with, or the identities they choose for themselves, would disadvantage anyone. However, a perfect world is not very achievable. Therefore, I want to be more aware of the people around me and do my part to fight for total social justice.
-Brynn Blair
Webster’s Dictionary defines social as: “of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society.” It also defines justice as: “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.” I agree both of these dictionary definitions; I especially love them when you put the definitions together. This is exactly what social justice means to me: “The maintenance or administration of what is just regarding the interactions of individuals in a human society especially in the impartial adjustments of conflicting claims.” In other words social justice means treating others as they would like to be treated. Not by eliminating the difference in our society, but rather by celebrating the diversity that is present. I believe this is important perspective to have because it allows us both value the differences that your peers may have, but at the same time recognize them as an equal.
ReplyDeleteI don’t try and claim to be an expert on the subject of social justice, nor was I born into a situation where I received much discrimination. The identity wheel helped me to really evaluate who I am and what I identify as. It is a line of thought I have not entertained before! I quickly learned that my identity falls under the “privileged” or “advantaged” column more often than not. Despite this, I am not numb to the cruel or hostile effects discrimination can bring onto a group of people or person. I have not experienced this type of discrimination personally, but that drives me all the more to fight for those who were not born into the privilege was born with.
To me social justice means treating people so they feel that they are a valued member of society. I have worked with people that have special needs for the past five years and have seen first hand how sometimes being out in public people will exhibit social injustice to people that have visible disabilities. It frustrates me whenever I witness these acts of social injustice but I also remind myself that those acts are the reason why I work for programs like Best Buddies and Spread The Word To End The Word in order to help end social injustice within the disabled community.
ReplyDeleteThe identity wheel was a very interesting activity for my group and I to take part in. At first we all drew a circle on our paper and then just sat there and looked at it blankly. None of us had ever really given thought to how we identify ourselves. I was going to use the examples from the wheel we had been shown before the activity. It had the person’s race, gender, sexual orientation and other identities listed on it. But I thought to myself, I never identity myself with these categories.
I am white, female and straight. But so what? When I get called on to introduce myself to room full of people I never tell them those things. I tell them I am a student, I am volunteer, I am a lover of people all shapes and sizes.
In today’s society I think we are too caught up in trying to classify everyone into a certain fixed set of categories. No matter if you are male, female, straight, gay, able bodied, non-able bodied you are a person. Social justice means to treat someone in a way that they feel good about themselves. Taking the time to get to know someone instead of just pushing them off because maybe their own identities do not reflect yours will delay social justice that we desperately need to imporve in our society today.
Social justice, in my mind, means every individual gets the same opportunities and privileges with a societal disregard of his or her race, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, and gender. Social justice is truly important with a society. I believe that it is the key in allowing us to create a better life and to pursue the American dream. The combat for social justice has persisted since the 1800s in the United States. It, especially, can be viewed during the Civil War. From the end of slavery to equity among all races with society today, America certainly has made progress over the years. Yet, it does not mean that we can stop moving forward on this topic since we indeed have not entirely achieved the goal. Racism may have greatly improved compared to 100 years ago; nonetheless, it is only a small part of the social justice.
ReplyDeleteThe identity wheel and Genderbread Person v2.0 activity allowed me to learn that everyone should have the equal right and opportunity to identify and express oneself, especially his/ her gender and sexuality. I found it as an interesting and a great way to get to know a person. Also, I realize that everyone has his/ her own privileges and disadvantages, I thus do not see any reason why discrimination should still exist. If we can put the hatred apart and start learning how to accept each other in the society, the ultimate goal of social justice should not be an impossible mission to achieve.
Caitlin Ireland
ReplyDeleteTo me social justice means that even though we are all different, we all deserve to be treated equally well. This does not mean that everyone must be treated in the exact same way, just that everyone deserves to be treated with respect and to feel like a valued and recognized member of society. Contradicting and moving away from the "us versus them" mentality is key to achieving social justice. We are all human beings. Just because someone is different from you does not make them less human. To me social justice goes far further than just the legal system. Everyone deserves to have equal rights and in my opinion there is no such thing as separate but equal. This is why changing the law to reflect the stance of social justice is just the beginning. In my opinion, true social justice requires an overhaul of society. An example of this is segregation in schools. It is true that required racial segregation is illegal. Yet the way our current society is structured and the attitudes many of us have, intentionally or unintentionally, continue to perpetuate the separation of people with different backgrounds. Instead of embracing the multicultural society we live in, I think in some ways we try to ignore it.
One interesting thing I realized during the identity wheel and Gingerbread Person 2.0 activities was that those are not the ways the majority of us classify or see ourselves. Yet in many ways those are the groups that society attempts to stick people in and to view them as. An example of this is my mother. She is a lesbian, but that is not one of the first things that pops into my mind when I think of her nor is it the way she describes herself. A lot of times when people discuss the issue of gay marriage I do not feel like they are talking about human beings with families, life experiences, interests, and skills. It is easy to identify someone by one characteristic, but people are so much more complex than that. Boxing people in and stereotyping them is one of the many ways we hinder our society from becoming a socially just one.
When I hear the words social justice, I think of many different faces of all different races and styles genuinely smiling. And not smiling in a cheesy way, but smiling because they are not facing oppression. Social justice is not just something on a political level, but is needed in everyday interactions with people. For example, when a child is searching the lunch room for a place to sit, that child should not be denied the right to sit anywhere by their peers because of their culture or race. Another example of social justice that comes to mind is a police officer protecting the rights of a black man as equally as they would protect the rights of a white person. Social justice is one of the most important things because it brings peace and respect amongst people.
ReplyDeleteIn class we all made identity wheels that had descriptive words of our gender, class, race, and other categorical items. If someone represents social justice properly, they would look at everybody’s individual wheels with respect and understanding, and then not treat them negatively because of the items on that wheel. I do not think every wheel should create the same emotional action in a person viewing them, because I believe when you are blind to people’s differences, you are ignoring what makes their identity special.
Realistically, I do not believe the world will ever evolve to become a place that displays complete social justice. However, like Allan Johnson’s article said, just because we cannot see a change happening does not mean we should give up completely. We must have faith in our actions and continue making a path of social justice for others to follow when they are ready.
Social justice is a goal that strives to end the oppression of social groups and the dissolve the systems of privilege in our society. In order to do this, it is necessary for dominant social groups to recognize their own privileges through self-reflection and for members of the subordinate group to abandon concepts of mistrust of the dominant group so that open and honest discussion can occur. Acknowledging these privileges allows both parties to even the playing field for frank discourse, so that equal representation occurs. These sorts of individual discussions combined with deviations from cultural norms can lead to overarching change that will affect society, even if it may not be in our lifetimes. Though the changes necessary to achieve social justice will take many people, the movement must start through the education of the individual, who will be able to influence those around them like a wave in the sea of change.
ReplyDeleteDuring the identity wheel activity and Gingerbread 2.0 activity, I was able to identify my own privileges that I have been granted. As a white, female, Christian, straight, American college student, I find myself in an extremely privileged circle. The only characteristic that could be considered a part of the subordinate group would be my gender. When having discussions about social justice and inequalities that are present, it is important to remember my privileges and how they have shaped the circumstances of my life.
Justice, in any form, is a necessarily complex and intangible notion. For sentient creatures, perhaps justice is attainable in an ephemeral manner and on extremely small scales. If I do something that harms another, recognize my mistake and make amends, perhaps myself and the individual I wronged will feel as though justice was served. However, societal justice, with its inclusion of an incredibly vast number of people, all with disparate and perhaps vague concepts of right and wrong, is a far more convoluted notion. I do not believe societal justice, in which every person is perceived as equal and treated as such, is something that could ever be actualized. However, everyone treating one another as equally and respectfully as they can muster is a perfectly reasonable alternative.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that Alternative Break classes are structured so that we may reflect upon the privileges biology and society have given us. I found it ironic that, for my group, the color wheel activity served to illustrate how similar we are in our backgrounds and societal privileges, while the Genderbread Person v2.0 activity illustrated how extremely disparate people have the potential to be in their perceptions of themselves. It is unfortunate that individuals are marginalized for their differences, especially considering that the similarities of a species far outweigh any and all discrepancies between individuals.