![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.uncharted-worlds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/BetterBiRelatedMedia.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n- \n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\tThere’s a difference between “challenging an idea” and “reproducing an idea”.
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\nIn the process of raising awareness & making change, sometimes it’s not easy to see how we can challenge an idea without<\/em> reproducing it. How can we name a problem without being part of normalising it?\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tThe concepts of “centring” and “framing” can help.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n- \n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFraming: Which ideas are put up for discussion, and which are taken for granted?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFraming: When we put an idea into words, is it clear to the reader whether we’re endorsing the idea or intending to challenge it?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIf we’re intending to challenge it, are we actively explaining to the reader “here are the ways this idea is mistaken or can be misused”?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA neutral-seeming “Let’s discuss!” isn’t necessarily neutral in reality; its effects depend on what’s already out there.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCentring: Whose perspective is being shown? Who’s placed at the centre of the story, and who’s at the edges or not mentioned at all?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCentring\/framing: Who is the implied reader, or audience? (implied by things like the use of “you” or “we” in the text, or by the information that’s included and left out, compared to who would or wouldn’t know that already.)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tIt’s true that prejudices against us deserve to be written about. This can be done by centring our<\/em> perspectives, as the people experiencing the effects.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\tIf you ask a question about a marginalised group which centres the viewpoint of a person biased against the group, then the effect of asking the question is not reversed<\/em> by your later answer.<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tEven if you immediately, in the very next line of the same piece of writing, go on to challenge the bias, still the effect of raising the question is not fully reversed: your answer can’t revoke having legitimised the question<\/strong>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tIf the follow-up is deferred to another<\/em> page or another<\/em> venue or another<\/em> time, then the effect of raising the question isn’t even slightly close to being reversed: you (re-)opened and legitimised the question for X number of people, but countered it (to whatever degree) for only a subset<\/em> of those people.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tThis limitation is useful to consider before asking a question, or making a statement, that you think is\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n- \n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t“controversial”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t“provocative”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintended to draw attention to something bad.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tFor example<\/strong>, imagine you sent out a poll tweet “Would you date a bisexual? Yes \/ no \/ maybe”.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tIf you did that, you’d be validating the question<\/strong> of whether every bi person should be ruled out just for being bi. You’d also be suggesting and accepting “I’d rule them all out” as a legitimate answer<\/strong>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tOf course, you might have been planning to use the poll in writing an insightful challenge aimed towards people who wouldn’t date a bi person. And when your article came out, it might have been wonderful.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tBut because of the structure & flow of the communication channels you’re using, many or most of the people who saw the tweet probably wouldn’t see that follow-up<\/em>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tSo then there’s people out in the world who voted “no”. Plus there’s people who didn’t actually vote, but read the question and thought<\/em> “ooh no, I<\/em> wouldn’t, not me”. And for everyone who didn’t<\/em> read the follow-up, the result of that interaction would only<\/em> be that their prejudice was framed as legitimate<\/strong>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tA similar practical limitation affects clickbait promotion lines: not everyone clicks through.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tIf the promotional line, taken alone<\/em>, presents a biased idea unchallenged, then all you’ve done for the readers who don’t<\/em> click through is to validate the biased idea<\/em>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\tIf you don’t know the territory, you’re going to miss stuff.<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
- \n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAre you the best person to write this<\/strong>?\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n- \n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCould you boost someone else’s writing instead, who’s closer to the centre of the issue, and knows more about it?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCould you pay<\/em> that person to write, or refer a paid opportunity to them?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCould you pay a Black bi writer, a disabled bi writer, a trans bi writer, or someone else from a group not often represented?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIf you’re set on writing it yourself, have you done your homework<\/strong>?\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n- \n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIf you’re writing about bi stuff, have you read the Bisexual Index site<\/a>, and some explanations of the relationship between pan and bi<\/a>, and Kenji Yoshino’s pioneering paper (PDF) on the interlocking layers of bi erasure<\/a> (or my summary of parts of it<\/a>)? Have you read Purple Prose<\/a>? Have you run your ideas past some bi activist peeps who’ve been around this block for a lot of years?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDo you understand how bi erasure and bi stigma work, well enough to mostly avoid propagating them yourself?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDo you know what the stereotypes are, so you can recognise them, and ensure you’re showing not only<\/em> the stereotypical picture?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDo you have some good beta readers who’ll tell you where you’re off track?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t“First, do no harm.”\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tAnd in particular…\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
\n\t\t\t\t\tWhether bisexuality exists is not a neutral, legitimate or harmless question. <\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tThere is no sense in which the answer to “does bisexuality exist” is still unknown. Anyone who won’t simply accept actual bi people’s firsthand accounts, check out the science<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tRe-raising that question therefore does not function as legitimate enquiry.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tRe-raising the question functions instead as invalidation and stigma.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tI say stigma, in particular, because asking that is equivalent to asking “are all bi people either lying or deluded?”<\/strong> Accepting the question as up for discussion is accepting that “whether all bi people are either lying or deluded” is a legitimate topic.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t“Deluded” and “Liar” are stigmatised categories. There is no context in which “Maybe all bi people are deluded or lying” is a neutral proposition.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tIf, despite understanding that, you still want to use that question as your way into something, ask yourself what you’re trying to accomplish.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tIf your intention is to stigmatise bi people, then of course this is an effective way; own that outcome, and don’t be surprised if people are angry with you.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tIf your intention is to educate, find a different way to do it, which doesn’t include framing this harmful and unnecessary question as legitimate.\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\tHope that helps \ud83d\ude42\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\nCopyright © Jennifer Moore 2017. All rights reserved.\n<\/p>\n
\nThis post belongs to Jennifer's Uncharted Worlds<\/a> blog. This message should only be visible in news aggregators. If you’re reading it on any other web site, it’s probably from a stolen RSS feed; in that case, please help by reporting it<\/a>, giving the web address where you found it.<\/p>\n
- \n
- \n
- \n
- \n
- \n
- \n