DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

DISCUSSIONS WE'VE HAD

Over the last few months, we have enjoyed having a range of discussions. From topics like double standards to different perceptions of feminism, we have certainly had a lot to talk about! We thought it would be great to to share some of it with you.

Cancel Culture:

Discussing cancel culture was really insightful, especially as the idea of ‘cancelling’ someone is becoming more predominant in our modern 21st century society. So, when discussing this topic, we all had one universal opinion: for the most part cancel culture is toxic. People can often think that by cancelling someone they are achieving social justice. However when it involves unlawful threats and invasion of peoples' privacy, that is when cancel culture can take a turn for the worst. Cancel culture can include people who benefit most in our society getting verbally attacked for controversial statements, to ordinary people facing major

repercussions like losing their job. But for the most part, we witness cancel culture taking place among the more privileged of societymost of the time it doesn’t last long. With a quick apology addressing the statement, with no sense of remorse, only the incentive to regain their lost followers, all is forgiven. From this, many of us said that these ‘influencers’ should take accountability for their actions and show genuine remorse. Being in the spotlight, comes with a certain responsibility so when these influencers use their power in a way that is not befitting it should not be ignored. We agreed that many of these people who are called influencers are not even a good example for the next generation and sometimes do not use their platform for good.

Matters Until They Affect You:

I’m sure we’ve all fallen guilty when it comes to this subject- that is why we felt that is was really important to talk about this. Many people said that they find that a lot of things that are reported in the media aren’t as insightful when it comes to educating people. There are many things that people wouldn’t be aware of unless they go and actively search for it. Take what happened with George Floyd for example. This was, of course, broadcasted across all forms of media. It was amazing to see many people coming to the realisation of systematic racism in the world. Sales of books about racism and white supremacy increased by up to 6,800% in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. However, it seemed as if people had been blissfully ignorant that institutional racism was so prevalent until it appeared right on their doorstep. This is just one of many examples that was discussed, but the point was that we all felt that a lot of people tend to be ignorant until a matter directly affects them or is publicised by the media. That’s why it is more important than ever to educate ourselves instead of waiting for the news to come to us. Fortunately, we are all in a position, to educate ourselves with the internet and books at our disposal. There are a number of resources located at the end of the end of the newsletter where you can do some further research. There are many other articles that you can read online and books that you could purchase. We can all make sure that we aren’t just simply being passive and waiting for the news to come to us but instead actually finding the means to educate ourselves.

DISCUSSIONS WE'VE HAD

Institutional Racism:

This discussion stemmed from a very interesting RPE lesson, in which we were watching a documentary on the murder of Stephen Lawrence. In this lesson, the topic of institutionalised racism was brought up, as Doreen Lawrence, the mum of Stephen Lawrence, brought up the incompetence and utter neglect of the police. One student brought up THUG ('The Hate U Give' by Angie Thomas) and how it portrays a great example of institutionalised racism. One common theme in these types of incidents, when a BIPOC is murdered, is that there tends to be someone/some people who want to justify the person's death. There are many institutions who have historically been accused of being racist, one such being the Met. However the general consensus is that it's deeper than this. In the medical field, a textbook definition for many diseases is related to the skin colour, like a red flush. This is ignorant, because for black people and other people of colour, you may not notice the colour change in the skin. Furthermore, many people tend to associate institutional racism with smaller institutions, and think that bigger institutions, like the government, can't be institutionally racist because of the sheer number of people. There is obviously a lack of black people in government institutions and bigger institutions. The size has nothing to do with the ability to be institutionally racist or not. The thing is, that a lot of our internalised bias is just that. . . .internalised, whether it's sexism, racism or any other kind of prejudice. People always try and make excuses as to why they cannot be institutionally racist, rather than making conscious efforts to change their attitudes. No one is blaming anyone for having internalised prejudice, because everybody has it. It is a byproduct of the society that we live in. However, in order to combat that, it's important to recognise how biases affect peoples' everyday lives and in the most extreme cases can be life-threatening. When prejudice is institutionalised, we not only have to introduce measures in the system to combat this and protect the necessary people; we must also reflect on ourselves and how we can actively make sure we don't fall into the trap of internal bias.

Perceptions of Feminism:

The reason we had a discussion about this is partly due to the discussion we had on toxic masculinity, but also as a result of one of the Life Choices sessions we had. In this conversation, we picked up on terms such as "feminazi" and what we think modern feminism now represents. One point that came up was that some people think that modern feminism is rather extreme, and that it has to do with women always being independent and not relying on anybody else and not submitting to men as such. This was echoed in an episode of 'Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over' when she stays at a "Trad Wife's" house, which is essentially a woman that does all the cooking/cleaning. The episode was particularly interesting as this particular wife was in fact extremely educated and would've described herself as a feminist before. Whilst we said that we think this is what feminism is often perceived as now, it was interesting to find that most of us would've described feminism as simply women having the right to choose what they want to do, and whereas many of us would neve consider being a traditional wife, we would never take someone else's right to that away. As I said, we also discussed terms such as "feminazis" . The general consensus around terms like this, were that they were honestly unacceptable.