Representation Matters
"They were terrible. But...we had to create art for us to represent our stories cause they weren't being told."
Hari Kondabolu, Asian Americans
"People who come from intact families, who are educated, who have values, who care for their kids, who raise their kids — if you don’t live in communities with people like me...you can make and be susceptible to all sorts of assumptions and stereotypes and biases, based on nothing but what you see and hear on TV. There are still millions of people who live in communities where they can live their whole lives not having contact or exposure with people who aren’t like them, whether that is race or religion or simply lifestyle. The only way that millions of people get to know other folks and the way they live…is through the power of television and movies."
Michelle Obama
"When you are a member of a marginalized community, most film and television is not made with you in mind...you develop a critical awareness because you understand the images you are seeing are not your life"
Laverne Cox, Disclosure
"I cannot be in the world until I see that I am in the world."
Yance Ford, Disclosure
"It is very tricky to try and be racist to White people.
Like what am I gonna be, oh I'm Kumar, well you are the lead in most movies that come out. Slam."
Kumail Nanjiani
Popular media informs a lot of our beliefs about identities such as race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. and without personal experiences that challenge media narratives, stereotypes are easily internalized into how we see ourselves and others (Guy, 2007; Johnson et al., 2009; Mok, 1998; Ward, 2004). Media communicates what we value and deem acceptable in our society (Tisdell & Thompson, 2007), creating and reinforcing cultural norms and the aspirations of who we "should" be, which in America is a very White, heternormative, cismale, Christian ideal of should (Hunt, 2017). Without diverse representation in media narratives, folks with marginalized identities can often experience conflict between how they see themselves or want to see themselves with how society perceives them to be or how the dominant culture wants them to be (Tisdell & Thompson, 2007). Representation matters to help folks with marginalized identities develop more complex and empowering conceptualizations of self while also challenging societal biases that reinforce the prejudice and shape how others interact with folks having these identities.
Intentionality
Representation: The voices of individuals with marginalized identities have been historically underrepresented and ignored in American popular media, both behind the scenes and in the narratives we consume (Hunt, 2017). Most narratives that have been created to communicate about the lived experiences for folks with these identities have come from the lens of a majority with little awareness for and little incentive to depict the true nature of these experiences (Erigha, 2015; Hunt, 2017), opting instead to create stories of token diversity that reinforce dehumanizing stereotypes and continue to "other" minorities so as to justify their oppression (Tukachinsky, Mastro, & Yarchi, 2015). The purpose of the Cultural Empathy Media Project then is to actually center the voices of folks from minority communities to be able to talk about the impact of our existing representation and to share narratives that feel more genuine to their lived experiences so as to foster more empathy for themselves and from others. This space was created to allow those voices to be shared and to allow those voices to have impact.
Intersectionality:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Martin Niemoller
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Martin Niemoller
This project emphasizes the importance of an intersectional lens when it comes to exploring the impacts of marginalization from the dominant systems that exist in this country. Intersectionality recognizes that we are all humans with privileged and marginalized identities that create shared and distinct experiences based on the culture of our society. We have a responsiblity to each other, not just our own marginalized groups, to change these systems of oppression. Do not buy into the myth from folks in power that there is only enough space for one of us at the table. Advocate for yourselves and hold yourself and your people accountable.
When deciding how I wanted to share some of these narratives about media representation, I wanted to be as intersectional as possible, to recognize everyone as a whole greater than just the individual parts of their marginalized identities. However, I also wanted to be very considerate of anonymity for the participants, especially with some of the vulnerability and courage that comes with sharing narratives about marginalized identities. While I did collect more identity information that will inform the lens in which I review and communicate about responses for academic purposes, I did not want to compromise any safety by fully listing out all identities shared with each response that could "out" participants. So consistent with Participatory Action Research, I chose to title responses with how folks self-reported marginalized identities to allow folks to represent themselves in a way that feels congruent while also including some additional identity categorization tags based on the content of the response. Posts also may have been slightly adjusted for proofreading or if responses talked about media representation outside of your own identities as that would be inconsistent with the purpose of the study. If you are a participant and you feel you have not been adequately represented in your identities, please feel free to contact me. I would love to hear feedback about how I could do better or share more about my intentionality.
Education: Empathy is an experience of deep connection with the "other" involving perspective taking, shared emotion, and the demonstration of joining. The construct of cultural empathy as found in the realms of counseling and psychology emphasizes an open and curious way of being that facilitates connection between therapists and diverse clients even across significant differences in identity (Dyche & Zayas, 2001), one in which knowledge of culture is balanced with recognition of intersectionality and individual experiences with culture that are meant to be heard rather than assumed. The development of empathy and cultural empathy is essential not just for mental health practitioners, but for all individuals of society to combat our socialization of dehumanizing minorities which functions to prevent meaningful connection and change. Such work requires immersive experience (Dyche & Zayas, 2001; Lu & Gellman, 2005), not just talk. We can "know" but not always feel the impetus to act.
The hope for the Cultural Empathy Media project then is to serve as an educational space, with the narratives shared by participants and positive representation in the media fulfilling some semblance of experiential engagement that also avoids the potential for harm or tokenization of individuals with marginalized identities asked to educate for the sake of others "learning experiences" in spaces where they just do not want to do so. We all have media that we deeply resonate with, films where we have cried, TV shows we could not stop watching, music we have gotten lost in. The diverse narratives here represent an opportunity to connect on that level and to challenge our tendency towards rigid stereotypes we might associate with some of the identities explored.
References
- Dyche, L., & Zayas, L. H. (2001). Cross-cultural empathy and training the contemporary psychotherapist. Clinical Social Work Journal, 29(3), 245-258.
- Erigha, M. (2015). Race, gender, Hollywood: Representation in cultural production and digital media's potential for change. Sociology Compass, 9(1), 78-89.
- Guy, T. C. (2007). Learning who we (and they) are: Popular culture as pedagogy. New directions for adult and continuing education, 2007(115), 15-23.
- Hunt, D. (2017). Race in the Writers’ Room: How Hollywood Whitewashes the Stories that Shape America.
- Johnson, J. D., Olivo, N., Gibson, N., Reed, W., & Ashburn-Nardo, L. (2009). Priming media stereotypes reduces support for social welfare policies: The mediating role of empathy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(4), 463-476.
- Lu, Y. E., Dane, B., & Gellman, A. (2005). An experiential model: Teaching empathy and cultural sensitivity. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 25(3-4), 89-103.
- Mok, T. A. (1998). Getting the message: Media images and stereotypes and their effect on Asian Americans. Cultural diversity and mental health, 4(3), 185.
- Tisdell, E. J., & Thompson, P. M. (2007). ‘Seeing from a different angle’: The role of pop culture in teaching for diversity and critical media literacy in adult education. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 26(6), 651-673.
- Tukachinsky, R., Mastro, D., & Yarchi, M. (2015). Documenting portrayals of race/ethnicity on primetime television over a 20‐year span and their association with national‐level racial/ethnic attitudes. Journal of Social Issues, 71(1), 17– 38.
- Ward, L. M. (2004). Wading through the stereotypes: positive and negative associations between media use and black adolescents' conceptions of self. Developmental Psychology, 40(2), 284.