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Understanding Power and Privilege

Conversations about privilege and oppression can be difficult. However, privilege is not a bad thing. With privilege comes levels of power, and it is up to those with privileged identities to help challenge barriers to inclusion and use this power for positive change.

This resource was developed to provide a deeper understanding of power and privilege, and how we can all work together to drive substantial change in the sport of fencing.

Remember, give yourself and your peers some GRACE, we’re on this journey of continuous learning, TOGETHER!

Privilege operates on personal, interpersonal, cultural, and institutional levels. It allows advantages, favors, and benefits to members of dominant groups at the expense of others. It's important to understand privilege in the context of power systems. In the United States, privilege has traditionally been granted to people who have membership in one or more of the following social identities:

  • Racial privilege (White)

  • Able-bodied privilege

  • Heterosexual privilege 

  • Gender privilege (Males)

  • Cisgender privilrge

  • Religious privilege (Christians)

  • Socio-economic (Middle Class)

  • Age privilege (Middle-aged)

  • Passing privilege (Colorism)

  • Language (English-speaking)

  • And many more…

1. Privilege is the other side of oppression

Privilege is often characteristically invisible to people who have it, which makes it hard for people who benefit from it to understand why or how they are benefiting from something they did not ask for. It’s often easier to notice the oppression you personally experience than the privileges you experience since being mistreated is likely to leave a bigger impression on you than being treated fairly. Privilege is often associated with a negative connotation, but it's important to realize that it does not have to be.

 People in dominant groups often believe that they have earned some of the privileges that they enjoy, or that everyone could have access to these privileges if only they worked hard enough to get  them (“Pick yourself up by the bootstraps” mindset). 

In fact, privileges are unearned and they are granted to people in the dominant groups whether they want those privileges or not, and regardless of their stated intent. Unlike targets of oppression, people in dominant groups are frequently unaware that they are members of the dominant group due to the privilege of being able to see themselves as persons rather than stereotypes.

2. Privileges and oppressions affect each other, but they don’t negate each other.

Please note, privilege does not go both ways. For example, female privilege does not exist because women do not have institutional power. Similarly, Black privilege, trans privilege, and poor privilege do not exist because those groups do not have institutional power.

All aspects of our identities – whether those aspects are oppressed or privileged by society – interact with one another. We experience the aspects of our identities collectively and simultaneously, not individually.

The interaction between different aspects of our identities is often referred to as an intersection.

Intersectionality is the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression, and we must consider everything and anything that can marginalize people – gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.

It is also important to note that it is possible for a person to hold both oppressed and privileged identities. For example, consider a Black, bisexual,mideclass male.

This person’s gender and socioeconomic status are considered to be privileged (maleness and class), whereas his race and sexual orientation are considered oppressed identities.

All of these factors should be taken into consideration when understanding an individual’s lived experience. Remember, while people may carry similar oppressed identities, no one has the same exact experiences.  

What can you do?

Reflect on your privilege: Look beyond race and skin color. All your social identities play a role in your privileged identities, even if you didn’t ask for it. Consider how this impacts your view of people and situations.

Listen and learn: Listen to, include and meaningfully collaborate with diverse groups of people. Recognize how intersectionality exists and influences your experience and the experiences of others; hear and respect the differences. But remember, it’s not the responsibility of marginalized groups to do all the work in educating people on their experiences. This often takes up lots of emotional labor and should never be taken for granted, so be prepared to help undertake some of the labor by doing your own research.

Read the room: Ask yourself if you’re the right person to take up space or speak on certain issues. Center stories and actions on those with the lived experiences. Don’t speak for them, don’t speak over them.

Watch your language: So many of the words we use every day have the potential to be exclusionary or cause harm  to marginalized communities. For example, saying someone is “crazy” for doing something silly can be highly offensive to a person with mental (dis)abilities. Recognize and correct your use of  these terms.  Accept criticism and don’t be afraid to hold others accountable.  As we become more intersectional and better at understanding differences, our language will evolve. We’re on this journey, Together! 

Use your privilege by being an ally.

An ally is a person whose commitment to dismantling oppression is reflected in a willingness to do the following:

  • Understand your privilege and educate yourself about oppression 

  • Learn from and listen to people who are targets of oppression

  • Examine and challenge one’s own prejudices, stereotypes and assumptions

  • Work through feelings of guilt and defensiveness to understand what is beneath them and what needs to be healed

  • Learn and practice the skills of challenging oppressive remarks, behaviors, policies and institutional structures

  • Collaborate with members of oppressed groups to challenge systems that prevent access and inclusion.

  • You’ll make mistakes; give yourself grace -  apologize, correct the mistake, and move on

It’s important to know that it is recommended to allow members of oppressed communities to consider you to be an ally vs self-appointing the title of an ally, even if you consider yourself to be an advocate.

Discussion Activity: Understanding Privilege and Systems of Power

Understanding Power Activity (Duration: 30 min)

This activity is an adaptation from RISE

Objectives

  • Identify different types of power

  • Reflect on one’s personal influence of power

  • Explore how power can be used for positive change 

Instructions

This module explores the dynamics power, which while some consider to be controversial, can be used for good for positive change. At a basic level, power simply equals influence. We all have different types of power in different situations. We are also part of power structures whether consciously or unconsciously. To examine how to use our own forms of power for social progress, we must identify the different forms of power and learn how to judge the appropriate use of it.

Below are various types of power defined in "Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice Education," edited by Adams, M, Bell, L and Griffin, P.

  • Power over — the use of domination to act or produce an effect.

  • Power with — the use of connection and cooperation to act or produce effect.

  • Power within — the use of inner wisdom to act or produce effect.

  • Personal Power — the use of individually unique characteristics and resources to act or produce an effect.

  • Social power — the use of social identity to access resources and produce an effect

  • Empowerment — increasing individual or collective power by exposing the fallacies of "power over" and increasing our abilities to use "power with" and "power within."

Prior to facilitating the activity, ensure there is enough room for participants to form a single file line.
  1. Begin by instructing the participants to organize themselves into a single file line that starts with the person who feels he or she has the most influence in the group to the person who expresses having the least influence.

  2. Participants aren't allowed to talk or communicate through written form. They should line up based on their own perception. This may not be their influence/power in someone else's opinion.

  3. Before concluding the activity, wait for everyone to place themselves in the line.

  4. Then facilitate a discussion using the following questions as a guide:

Discussion Questions

  • How did you feel during this activity?

  • How did it feel to be at the highest influence end of the line? What about the least influence?

  • What did you notice during the exercise?

  • What types of power did you think about in this game? Use this as an opportunity to bring awareness to the types of power defined in Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice Education.

  • Are you part of any groups or structures that either consciously or unconsciously exercise power over others?

  • How can you use your personal power in that group or structure to change the dynamic to "power with" or growing someone's "power within"?

  • What do you think gives people power? For example, you can have individual influence based on your personality or perhaps you have positional influence as a coach, upperclassmen or team captain.

  • If we lined up all of today's participants (athletes, coaches, sports administrators) with the overall school or organization, where do you think you would fall?

  • What kind of power do you have in your school, organization or community within your current role? How can you use that power to improve your school, organization, community and the broader society?

  • How much power do the following groups hold: student-athletes, coaches and administrators? Discuss each independently.

  • How does the power or influence we hold affect our ability to impact change in society?

  • What are ways we can gain more power?