Quick preface: Ok, this may be a potentially “controversial” post that makes me glad for our blog’s relative anonymity and complete lack of readership. I typically refrain from talk that can be construed as remotely politicized outside of private conversation, but given recent current events I thought this was worth sharing.
We all know that it’s important to be culturally aware and sensitive, and of course there’s a ton of research of why this is important in the workplace, at home, for society, etc. But how do we actually go about developing that awareness? One small step to doing so, I think, is consuming content by and about underrepresented groups. There are tons of resources out there for books, articles, videos, podcasts, films, TV series, and other media that can educate us and deepen our anti-racism work. But even if you’re just trying to relax and not up for a TED Talk on the history of systemic racism (which, fair; that’s not necessarily a casual Friday evening mood), there is still plenty of fun content that sheds light on a different perspective than our own. Maybe this means instead of rewatching another unbelievably white TV show, you watch Black-ish, One Day At A Time, or Fresh Off the Boat. Maybe you trade out Wes Anderson or Noah Baumbach for a night for Barry Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, or Ryan Coogler.
Being intentional like this is something I consider in something as trivial as what posts I reblog on Tumblr. (Yes, I’m a mid-20s-something who still uses Tumblr; so sue me). It would be way too easy to fill an entire blog with gifs of TV/movies with primarily white casts; photoshoots of white pop stars and movie stars; even pics of random skinny white fashion bloggers wearing chunky knit sweaters, because we’re all sluts for sweaters. I’ve often noticed this throughout the internet: “Oh, here’s a list of books that this person has read this year. Oh, they’re almost all by white male authors... Huh.” “Oh, here’s a cool style blog… Oh, these pics are almost all of young, skinny white women… Huh.” It can happen so easily, outside of our explicit awareness, simply because whiteness, maleness, ableism, heteronormativity, etc. are so dominant in mainstream U.S. culture.
To counter this, I do go out of my way to ensure that my Tumblr, for example, has a decent amount of posts/pics of, or by POC. Representation matters. I don’t need to help perpetuate whiteness and thinness as standards of beauty. Society does that enough. That said, I often fail.
In a similar vein, for the last couple of years, I’ve kept track of the percentage of movies I watch every year that have POC lead characters and/or casts. (For what it’s worth, in 2018 and 2019 those numbers hovered around 25%; this year, I’m at ~35%. I honestly don’t know what the numbers would be if I weren’t tracking them, given that psychological phenomenon where the act of tracking or observing behaviors changes the behavior). In the past, I made more of an effort to ensure that at least 25% of the books I was reading were by POC authors; to be honest, I’ve slacked off on tracking that recently due to laziness. But as I said: representation matters. The least I can do is read a book by an author who is Muslim, or Native American, or trans. It’s not a big ask, and if that work can provide perspective from someone who doesn’t look like me or has had vastly different life experiences, why not?
I would love to know the work that you’re doing to educate yourself in some small way and expand your cultural awareness!
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