you have GOT to be able to admit when you’ve believed something bigoted in order to improve as a human being. like you NEED to be able to handle that if you want to act in line with your values
I just want to add that bigotry is a marble layercake, it’s not a black and white infographic of good versus bad.
Some bigotry is up front, “Oh, why do I assume that particular accent makes that person sound stupid?” and easy to point out to yourself
Some bigotry is more hidden, “I feel unsafe in certain locations, despite no signs of danger” which could very well not be bigotry but you gotta get in the habit of questioning those knee jerk reactions before just blindly assuming you’re having them for valid reasons
A lot of bigotry is just stuff you learned and never unlearned, so when it’s pointed out to you your first response is NO! THAT’S A REAL THING I LEARNED! the best antidote to this is learning that we are all ignorant gits and lifelong learners, and it’s ok to be wrong.
Learn to laugh at yourself and you’ll have less hard of a time unlearning stuff I promiseYes, but: admit this to yourself, your safe folks to vent to, your journal
Not to those marginalized people specifically
It gets really tiring getting people telling you “I was really intersexist and used intersexist slurs and parroted medicalization language without thought, and now I don’t” on your posts or in the tags of your posts or to your face even. Like yeah, we’ve all been shitty. How am I supposed to respond to that? Sympathy? Praise? I appreciate when people do better, but it’s an awkward and power imbalanced sort of interaction imo
We need to acknowledge our past harm to do better - but without expecting those people we may have harmed to need to see our inner work. Show your growth with current actions to those people, stand in solidarity as an ally, and know the inner work never stops.
Yes, but: admit this
to yourself, your safe folks to
vent to, your journal
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.