Teach out: connections to Johnson, Armstrong & Wildman

Teach Out Proposal:

For my teach out project I plan to propel Allan Johnson's philosophy in Privilege, Power, and Difference, that you cannot fix what you cannot talk about.  Johnson discusses the trouble we are all in together, the proverbial elephant in the room - the BIG issues that lurk and haunt us, that no one has the courage to call by name.  Johnson states that the terms that evoke these uncomfortable feelings, the "isms" (sexism, racism, classism, anti-Semitism, etc.) are avoided, thought to be too painful and unpleasant to bring up in day to day conversation.    In order to bring these issues to the forefront, conversations, albeit uncomfortable, need to happen in order to have meaningful dialogue and effect change. 

  For this particular project I will focus on a particular "ism" that Johnson identifies, sexism and more specifically sexual harassment and sexual assault, the extreme manifestations of sexism.  As a future school nurse-teacher I feel strongly that I should work to create a safe environment in which students, staff and faculty are empowered to first of all identify and name these incidents, and second of all, feel comfortable reporting.  It is vital to healing the victim and preventing predators from victimizing others.  

As the "me-too" movement has demonstrated, hundreds of women admit to being sexually harassed and/or assaulted in some cases by a single individual, for example, a media mogul who held all the power over their careers and future livelihood.  Many of these victims were educated but in the early stages of their careers, yet recognized their future success and financial security depended on their submission and silence.   Another recent example of this problem is demonstrated by the crimes perpetrated upon young athletes as they pursued their dreams of becoming elite gymnasts and Olympic hopefuls within the prestigious USA Gymnastics development programs and camps.  

Sadly it seems that individuals who were in a position to stop the perpetrators practiced a form of blindness.  Armstrong and Wildman argue that the practice of seeing the world through a lens of colorblindness, a concept adopted by the courts, was an ideology adopted to prevent discrimination.  The idea was to treat all people equally but in effect it prevented us from acknowledging uniqueness and was dismissive of individual struggles.  Armstrong and Wildman suggest an alternative approach, which they call “color insight would give us the vocabulary and methods to communicate about the role of privilege in society - the power to do something, or the power to turn a blind eye, or claim to not know anything. People in positions of power might deny having responsibility for racism because it does not affect them directly.  For this reason it is important to learn about race and its role in how our society operates. Similarly, we need to do a much better job in identifying issues of sexism, sexual harassment and sexual assault in our society, between perpetrators in power positions and those who are subordinate or have no power at all. 

We all have a responsibility to prevent sexual harassment, sexual assault and protect others,  In order to do that we must learn how to talk about it, that elephant in the room.  In both of the examples, silence empowered the perpetrators to victimize so many others for so many years. Adopting Johnson's philosophy, we will give this a name and create a safe environment where these incidents are recognized, named and reported.  It will no longer be taboo or shameful to admit to being sexually victimized. 

My project will include an informational fact sheet that is made available to students, staff and faculty defining these terms (sexual harassment, sexual assault, 1st, 2nd, 3rd degree according to RI General Laws.)  It will include information about reporting options as well as resources for support.