'Privilege' Exercises

The following lengthy discussion of exercises designed to raise
students' awareness of "privilege" (their own and others') took
place on WMST-L in April 2002.  For additional WMST-L files
available on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

PAGE 1 OF 5

I am facing the happy challenge of presenting women's/ethnic
studies-related material outside of the WS classroom.  Can anyone
recommend a good group exercise on the subject of *privilege*? That
is, race-, gender-, class-, ability-, and heterosexual privilege,
among others.  It will be for a non-course related
presentation/workshop sponsored by our campus women's center.  The
whole thing should take no more than one hour.  I can include handouts,
but a full-on reading will be impossible.  I have or have read, and
most likely will be drawing from, the following:

Peggy McIntosh, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
Paula S. Rothenberg, WHITE PRIVILEGE: ESSENTIAL READINGS ON THE OTHER
        SIDE OF RACISM
Allan G. Johnson, PRIVILEGE, POWER, AND DIFFERENCE
Maurianne Adams, et al., TEACHING FOR DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Please reply off list.  I will compile and post all pertinent responses.


--
The legal and medical technologies of family making are not
merely "privileges" that gays and lesbians don't have; they are
entitlements and guarantees designed around heteronormativity that
are kept from gays through actual practices of discrimination.
                                --scout (scout  @  HOYDEN.ORG)

Maria Bevacqua, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Women's Studies
Minnesota State University
Mankato, Minn.  56001
ph (507) 389-5024
fax (507) 389-6377
maria.bevacqua  @  mnsu.edu

Dear WMST-L:

Last week I wrote to ask for suggestions for a workshop focused on
privilege.  I received the following responses.  Many thanks to
everyone who took the time to share their wisdom.

Cheers,
Maria


Nairn Galvin <galvinn  @  mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca> wrote

Hi there -- the workshop presentation sounds great.  I would use the
MacIntosh for sure and would suggest Ann Bishop's small book
"Becoming an Ally"  It is Canadian, published by Fernwood Press, 1994.


susan turell, turell  @  cl.uh.edu  wrote
Are you familiar with the activity that has people walk to the opposite
side of the room if they identify with an oppressed group?  The
facilitator reads each group one by one, and each time folks go to the
opposite side of the room and stand for a moment before returning to
the group as a whole. It is very powerful, and it helps people access
both oppression and privilege on a number of dimension.


Barbara Lesch McCaffry <mccaffry  @  sonoma.edu> sent an exercise as an
email attachment that I cannot include here.  It involves having
participants stand in a line.  The facilitator reads a statement, such
as "If you were brought to art galleries or plays by your parents, take
one step forward."  The forward steps represent privileges and the
backward steps represent disadvantages.  My co-facilitator and I used
this for the workshop and it went very well.  We added a few of our own
statements to represent privileges not covered by the rest.  We
followed the exercise with a long discussion.

Elizabeth Engelhardt <Elizabeth.Engelhardt  @  mail.wvu.edu> wrote:

One more piece that discusses privilege well--

Wing, Adrien Katherine.  "Introduction:  Global Critical Race Feminism
for the Twenty-first Century."  Global Critical Race Feminism:  An
International Reader.  Ed. Adrien Katherine Wing.  New York:  NYU
Press, 2000.  1-26.
An odd source, but it adds to McIntosh a more global perspective--and
is more particular about the differences between skin color, ethnicity,
and race.  She has a section where she talks about how she is perceived
as one color in Brazil, another in South Africa, and a third here in
the US--and receives different privileges in each place.

And for something funny--there's a short (very amusing) chapter in How
to Be a Chicana Role Model by Michele Serros that outlines different
ways to answer the "where are you from" question when you're not white
in the US.  Not exactly privilege, but perhaps a way into the
conversation.

--
The legal and medical technologies of family making are not
merely "privileges" that gays and lesbians don't have; they are
entitlements and guarantees designed around heteronormativity that
are kept from gays through actual practices of discrimination.
                                --scout (scout  @  HOYDEN.ORG)

Maria Bevacqua, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Women's Studies
Minnesota State University
Mankato, Minn.  56001
ph (507) 389-5024
fax (507) 389-6377
maria.bevacqua  @  mnsu.edu

>Folks--


I have gotten several requests for the privilege exercise I sent to
Maria Bevacqua in response to her query about materials for use in a
workshop on privilege so thought it might be helpful to send it to
the list.

I used it in connection with a discussion of an essay by Peggy
McIntosh on white privilege in an introductory upper-division general
education course with much success.

I hope it is helpful to many of you.

--Barbara

Barbara Lesch McCaffry
American Multi-Cultural Studies, Hutchins School of Liberal Studies,
and Women's and Gender Studies
Sonoma State University
1801 East Cotati Avenue
Rohnert Park, California 94928
Office:  707-664-2273
FAX:     707-664-2130
mccaffry  @  sonoma.edu

Have students stand in a straight line (quite close together).
Request that they hold hands with the person on either side of them
for as long as possible and refrain from speaking during the exercise.

Privilege Exercise

If your ancestors were forced to come to the USA, not by choice, take
one step back.

If your primary ethnic identity is American, take one step forward.

If you were ever called names because of your race, class, ethnicity,
gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If there were people of color who worked in your household as
servants, gardeners, etc., take one step forward.

If your parents were professional, doctors, lawyers, etc., take one
step forward.

If you were raised in an area where there was prostitution, drug
activity, etc. take one step back.

If you ever tried to change you appearance, mannerisms, or behavior
to avoid being judged or ridiculed, take one step back.

If you studied the culture of your ancestors in elementary school,
take one step forward.

If you went to a school speaking a language other than English, take
one step back.

If there were more than 50 books in your house when you grew up, take
one step forward.

If you ever had to skip a meal or were hungry because there was not
enough money to buy food when you were growing up, take one step back.

If you were brought to art galleries or plays by your parents, take
one step forward.

If one of your parents were unemployed or laid off, not by choice,
take one step back.

If you attended a private school or summer camp, take one step forward.

If your family ever had to move because they could not afford the
rent, take one step back.

If you were told that you were beautiful, smart, and capable by your
parents, take one step forward.

If you were ever discouraged from academic or jobs because of race,
class, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you were ever encouraged to attend a college by your parents, take
one step forward.

If prior to age 18, you took a vacation out of the country, take one
step forward.

If one of your parents did not complete high school, take one step back.

If your family owned your own house, take one step forward.

If you saw members of your race, ethnic group, gender, or sexual
orientation were portrayed on television in degrading roles, take one
step back.

If you were ever offered a good job because of your association with
a friend or family member, take one step forward.

If you were ever denied employment because of your race, ethnicity,
gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you were ever paid less, treated less fairly because of your race,
ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you were ever accused of cheating or lying because of your race,
ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you ever inherited money or property, take a step forward.

If you had to rely primarily on public transportation, take one step back.

If you were ever stopped or questioned by the police because of your
race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you were ever afraid of violence because of your race, ethnicity,
gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you were generally able to avoid places that were dangerous, take
one step forward.

If you ever felt uncomfortable about a joke related to your race,
ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If you were ever a victim of violence related to your race,
ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation, take one step back.

If your parents did not grow up in the United States, take one step back.

If your parents told you that you could be anything you wanted to be,
take one step forward.

Ask participants to remain where they are to look at their position
in the room or space in relation to the positions of the other
participants. Ask participants to pick someone from an opposite
position with which to process the exercise.

Questions:

What are your thoughts and feelings about this exercise?

Were you surprised? Why?

If time permits or if relevant:

Would your placement have been different if the exercise included
questions about disability or religion?

How could affirmative action impact these issues?

Take about 10 minutes for the pairs to process and then have them
report back to the group as a whole.

--

Barbara, Thank you for forwarding the whole thing.  The exercise worked
very well for me, both in the workshop and later that week in a women's
studies class.  Here are a couple of pointers from my experience
(hindsight is 20/20):

1.  The list can be amended with statements pertaining to age-,
ability-, heterosexual-, male-privilege, and so on.  The
privilege-savvy students in both sessions pointed this out.

2.  I omitted the hand-holding, mainly because I myself dislike being
required to touch another person.

3.  Since our space was limited, in class we did the exercise in a
circle instead of a line.  This had an interesting visual effect: the
more privileged folks were in the center, and the "others" were on the
margins.

Cheers,
Maria

--
The legal and medical technologies of family making are not
merely "privileges" that gays and lesbians don't have; they are
entitlements and guarantees designed around heteronormativity that
are kept from gays through actual practices of discrimination.
                                --scout (scout  @  HOYDEN.ORG)

Maria Bevacqua, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Women's Studies
Minnesota State University
Mankato, Minn.  56001
ph (507) 389-5024
fax (507) 389-6377
maria.bevacqua  @  mnsu.edu

I'm intrigued by the privilege exercise, but wonder if it made
individual students uncomfortable to be "outed" in a variety of ways, or
have certain marginalizations visualized for the entire class.

Any thoughts on how this worked, or how to negotiate the possibility for
further inscriptions of marginality on various bodies??

Many thanks,
Jennifer Harris
York University
jharris  @  yorku.ca

Jennifer is right, from my limited experience with this exercise.
People get very uncomfortable.  I've never conducted it, but I've read
about it and a student of mine described experiencing it at a leadership
conference.  But people are often uncomfortable in confronting how
identity categories are woven into systems of privilege - and the
discomfort is part of the point of exercises like this.  The discomfort
can backfire--I'd want to be very sure of the group's general goodwill
before even attempting such an exercise.  But my student's experience
with the exercise was extremely positive.

In the leadership conference, as my student described it, the
participants had spent several days together and were breaking into
cliques.  After the privilege exercise, some wept - and the small groups
that met afterwards spent a long time talking.  The exercise helped to
produce solidarity across gaps.  My student credits the experience with
bringing the conference together and raising everyone's spirits as
participants.

Janet Gray
gray  @  tcnj.edu

Jennifer,

I thought about this too and share your concern.  I attempted to ease
the problem by telling all participants in advance that they could sit
the exercise out altogether if it made them uncomfortable for any
reason. I also let them know that if at any time during the exercise
they felt uncomfortable with it, they could step out freely.  I know
that these are only partial solutions, since the pressure to
participate is great--sitting out calls attention too.  In a very
productive discussion afterward, students commented that they had never
realized the diversity of experience on our class or our school (a
mainly rural, mostly-white comprehensive university), and the exercise
demonstrated that to them.  The exercise is not without problems.  I
would love to read others' ideas for escaping these problems, or
others' experiences using such activities to discuss privilege.

Cheers,
Maria

Maria Bevacqua, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Women's Studies
Minnesota State University
Mankato, Minn.  56001
ph (507) 389-5024
fax (507) 389-6377
maria.bevacqua  @  mnsu.edu

One way that my colleague Trev Broughton and I have tackled this in
relation to race, specifically whiteness, is to use what we
call 'auto/photography'.   Basically we ask students to explore ideas not
too dissimilar to those being discussed on this list by 'playing' with
props (dressing up clothes & other items) and then taking photos. We use
instamatic cameras for a quick and usually productive perspective. We then
arrange a follow up session when students have a chance to reflect, read
more, and make image and word based collages and essays.

The advantage of this method is that the often loaded terms around  race
issues and  ideas of whiteness can, to some extent, be by-passed through
using bodies, props, each other, and images, and  quite often it results in
quite creative work - both from a political and academic perspective. We've
been doing this off and on for the past decade - with a wide variety of
students, and I'd be happy to share exercises, good (and less good!)
experiences, and techniques if anyone is interested.

Does anyone else do anything similar?

ann

..................................
Ann Kaloski Naylor
Centre for Women's Studies
University of York
York  YO10 5DD
ENGLAND
eakn1  @  york.ac.uk

I've participated in a variation on this where instead of the line,
people stand in a circle. at each question, people step into the
circle, wait for a few seconds to see who is there and then step back.

the line works better as a visual for people to see the separations,
but the circle means that by the time you get to the end, you may
have forgotten who stepped in at the beginning -- unless it's a
question for whom you're looking for an ally.

also, I've done it where after the facilitator asks all the
questions, the people in the group add their own questions -- this
has produced some interesting possibilities, especially with very
heterogeneous groups. I recall one instance in which some of the
immigrant students had questions that US born participants did not /
could not anticipate...etc.

Mev

>  Jennifer,
>
>  I thought about this too and share your concern.  I attempted to ease
>  the problem by telling all participants in advance that they could sit
>  the exercise out altogether if it made them uncomfortable for any
>  reason. I also let them know that if at any time during the exercise
>  they felt uncomfortable with it, they could step out freely.
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Women's Presses Library Project
...keeping women's words in circulation
Mev Miller, Project Coordinator
1483 Laurel Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104-6737

651-646-0097
651-646-1153 /fax

wplp  @  winternet.com

I try always to be sensitive to the possibility of outing people.  In
the version of the privilege exercise which I use (which is just a
little different from the one posted to the list), the instructions
say that, if any question makes the participant uncomfortable, the
participant should just ignore that question--moving neither forward
nor backward--and wait for the next one.

Peace,
Jeannie
--

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"[R]estrictive pedagogy comes from the belief that we are teaching
solely the subject
matter, rather than the actual reality that we are teaching live human beings."
        --Jyl Lynn Felman, *Never a Dull Moment: Teaching and the Art
of Performance*

Dr. Jeannie Ludlow
jludlow  @  bgnet.bgsu.edu                          *Spring, 2002, office hours*
Director of Undergraduate Program                       MWF 2:30-3:20 pm
American Culture Studies                                T 9
am-1:00pm, 2:30-4:30 pm
107 East Hall
Bowling Green State U
Bowling Green OH 43403
(419)372-0176

Actually the exercise you are describing below is not really a
privilege exercise but one on differences and how differences can be
stigmatized.

The privilege exercise that I do is very similar to the one
described--but I think it is important to add a final piece to
it--this final piece is to put a chair at the front of the line--at
some distance or in the center of the circle (not as effective)--at
the end of all the stepping--then one announces that the winner of the
game is the one who can be the first to sit in the chair--for the
white males (who are almost always at the front or closest to the
center)--this is very easy--for the Black males who are almost always
way at the back--this is impossible--although I once had a Black male
who really put on some speed to try and get there.  It is an excellent
reminder of the effect of unearned privilege.

This exercise requires a great amount of processing--I would think a
minimum of three hours is needed--although longer would be better.

Bette S. Tallen  Ph.D.
Coordinator of Training
Office of Diversity Initatives
University of Central Florida
e-mail: BTallen  @  mail.ucf.edu
FAX: 407-823-6480
Phone: 407-823-3644

I agree, too, that this can be a very uncomfortable exercise for some, even
if the discomfort of confronting one's own privilege is really a necessary
part of the learning process.  definitely not something i'd attempt on the
first day of class, as dramatic as it might be to get students thinking
right then.  i forwarded the message/exercise description to a student, who
expressed the  same sorts of concerns, but suggested that maybe people could
be asked to close their eyes and open them only at the very end.  that might
help soften things some..?

there was another exercise another student once sent me that was pulled from
a book called _a hope in the unseen_ i believe.  it involved writing out
descriptions like "knows about juneteenth" or "knows the significance of the
pink triangle" and such out on little pieces of paper, folding these up and
having students pick one each.  then the students pick out someone in class
that they think might fit the description... this is an exercise that
probably *would only work on day-one of class, before people get to know
each other a bit and the customary stereotypical understandings begin to
wear off a little, but again, it's not something i'd feel comfortable
trying.  it's hard to confront one's self this way, as it is also to
recognize that you may be the very embodiment of someone else's stereotype.
anyway, i thought this exercise too may be of interest to some on this list.
deepa

-------------------------------
Deepa S. Reddy, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Box 295, University of Houston-Clear Lake
2700 Bay Area Blvd.
Houston TX 77058-1098

Phone: 281-283-3331
Fax: 281-283-3406
Email: reddy  @  cl.uh.edu