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How do you work to become free to live the life you want to live? What cognitive, political and poetic tools do you put to work to help you get some space to breathe, to learn, to begin to speak for yourself? How do you build community spaces to support resistance to stereotypes which would keep you down?
I noticed an article in Science this week about 'stereotype threat': Stereotype threat occurs when stereotyped groups perform worse as their group membership is highlighted. We investigated whether stereotype threat is affected by accounts for the origins of stereotypes. In two studies, women who read of genetic causes of sex differences performed worse on math tests than those who read of experiential causes. Women who were given an essay to read which refuted sex-related differences in mathematical ability, and those who were given an essay which argued that sex-related differences exist but were due to women's experiences and not innate lacks, both outperformed those who were told that sex differences in math performance were innate and due to genetic differences.
I know the full text is not freely available, but I think it's the flavour of the concept that's important for this topic. To me it seems to point right at the heart of internalised oppression: if we are told that we can't be something or do something, it's likely to harm our confidence when we try, and puts us at disadvantage compared to those who for reasons of privilege are not carrying the burden of self-doubt. To me this is the core case for political education right at all levels: it is necessary if we want the full human potential at work on the problems of the day, to give each other cognitive tools which help to liberate us from the limiting lies we get told through sexism, racism, homophobia etc in the mass media. How can we build confidence in our right to be heard and to succeed?
It's clear to me that systematic oppression (for example, sexism and racism) has both external and internalised factors. What I'm interested in discussing here is ways we can work towards our liberation by overcoming internalised prejudice against ourselves. bell hooks is a major source for me in this respect. She writes about a politics based on learning self-love, learning to love each other as the basis for building justice and freedom. She draws heavily on both Malcolm X's and Martin Luther King's political positions, building a synthesis that puts self-love at the heart of political struggle for freedom from all forms of domination. |
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