Ethnicity and culture: Difference between revisions
→Tips for nonbinary people trying not to be racist: I added more genders
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==Tips for nonbinary people trying not to be racist== | ==Tips for nonbinary people trying not to be racist== | ||
It's no help to say "I'm not racist," or "I didn't mean it in a racist way." Being non-racist is an active process, not a passive process that just happens in the absence of intentional racist acts. A person must work at being non-racist by doing research to inform one's self about the issues; when one makes mistakes, admit them, apologize, and do what one can to set things right. Here is some advice about how to be respectful about issues of ethnicity, culture, and racism that come up specifically in relation to nonbinary and transgender issues. | ,It's no help to say "I'm not racist," or "I didn't mean it in a racist way." Being non-racist is an active process, not a passive process that just happens in the absence of intentional racist acts. A person must work at being non-racist by doing research to inform one's self about the issues; when one makes mistakes, admit them, apologize, and do what one can to set things right. Here is some advice about how to be respectful about issues of ethnicity, culture, and racism that come up specifically in relation to nonbinary and transgender issues. | ||
* If you want to take up a certain word for your gender identity, do research on it before you start using it for yourself. Learn all you can about the word's history. Find out if it's mostly or only used by people of certain ethnicities or cultures. If so, and you don't have that ethnicity or culture, then you are not entitled to use it. Don't use that word, and look for a different word to which you are entitled. | * If you want to take up a certain word for your gender identity, do research on it before you start using it for yourself. Learn all you can about the word's history. Find out if it's mostly or only used by people of certain ethnicities or cultures. If so, and you don't have that ethnicity or culture, then you are not entitled to use it. Don't use that word, and look for a different word to which you are entitled. | ||
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** Educate yourself about how to be aware and respectful of different cultural backgrounds of the people in that space. That means not lazily expecting those people to educate you, but doing your own research on your own time. Only ask them questions when research is no substitute for it. Don't expect them to speak for all of their people. | ** Educate yourself about how to be aware and respectful of different cultural backgrounds of the people in that space. That means not lazily expecting those people to educate you, but doing your own research on your own time. Only ask them questions when research is no substitute for it. Don't expect them to speak for all of their people. | ||
* Don't perpetuate binarism by talking about the gender binary as if it was always universal to all cultures. Don't take for granted that all cultures view gender in the same or similar way. | * Don't perpetuate binarism by talking about the gender binary as if it was always universal to all cultures. Don't take for granted that all cultures view gender in the same or similar way. | ||
* In 2014, as part of the protest of police violence against African-Americans, Twitter users created the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, to protest how the law system was treating them like their lives had no value. Soon, people created other hashtags in the same format to tweet about other kinds of injustice, such as #TransLivesMatter. That hashtag could be acceptable if tweeting about how [[cissexism#transphobia|transphobic]] violence also affects black trans women. Then it's still related to the original message. However, if the context is about white trans people only, using that hashtag would be a questionable decision, due to its roots. | * In 2014, as part of the protest of police violence against African-Americans, Twitter users created the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, to protest how the law system was treating them like their lives had no value. Soon, people created other hashtags in the same format to tweet about other kinds of injustice, such as #TransLivesMatter. That hashtag could be acceptable if tweeting about how [[cissexism#transphobia|transphobic]] violence also affects black trans women, black trans men, or black nonbinary people who use the 'trans' label. Then it's still related to the original message. However, if the context is about white trans people only, using that hashtag would be a questionable decision, due to its roots. | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||