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Throughout my involvement in sport I have not experience many
micro- aggressions that made me really step up and take action. Growing up
playing youth and competitive soccer I never was educated on what micro-aggressions
were which is probably why I never noticed how harmful and inaccurate phrases
harm others. It wasn’t until I entered college where I first played soccer with
an openly lesbian and bi-sexual teammate. As a freshmen being the ‘newbie’, I wanted to
make sure that I built friendships with all of my teammates.
My first initial thoughts while in the locker room with my
team were, are my teammates going to be checking me out when I change in front
of them or shower in front of them. But after two weeks of double days those
thoughts quickly were removed. In that first week of double days I began to
really get to know my teammates on a more personal level. During those
beginning weeks we shared our stories and really had the chance to get to know
each other on and off the field. I realized that because my two teammates had
attraction to girls didn’t change their ability to play soccer and didn’t change
who they are as people. As the school year went by, I had taken a few classes
that educated me on providing a more equitable and inclusive learning
environment. By taking these classes they began to provide me more background
on situations that I might encounter.
During college I have developed a larger understanding about
the ‘queer community’ and would like to say that I am on my journey to becoming
an allie. I have always been open to meeting new people and accepting who they
are and their beliefs. I was never aware how strong the use of personal
pronouns could affect people until our class on Wednesday. The rest of the week
I tried to be more conscious of my use of personal pronouns when referring to
people. It is very difficult to identify my use of personal pronouns because
certain personal pronouns are so ingrained in my language it was difficult to
catch. Within the time frame given for this blog, I was not able to have the
chance to ‘step-up’ when I heard micro-aggressions because I was never in a
situation where could have made a difference. While watching TV over the
weekend, I heard many micro-aggressions. When I heard these micro-aggressions
it was challenging to disrupt the cycle because the actors on television
weren’t going to be able to hear what I say. I found it very frustrating that I
could not ‘step-up’ and address the situation.
And I think even if I did try to address the situation the actors are in
character and the show does not reflect who they really are.
Since trying to address the issues that were occurring on television
were going to be impossible to disrupt. I had conversations with my family and
friends about the use of personal pronouns using the example of “you guys” when
referring to a group. I wanted to know their opinions about the use of personal
pronouns. The conversations that I had were very interesting and eye opening. The
conversations would begin with the idea of using the phrase ‘you guy’ which
lead to many different conversations around the ‘queer community.’ I did get
into conversations where family and friends disagreed and had strong opinions
about the ‘queer community’. Such as one
conversation lead to how they don’t think it is right that some states are
allowing multi-sex restrooms. The person that I spoke with spoke strongly on
how they think it is wrong and that this change can lead to higher rape crimes.
I tried to guide the conservation around transgendered individuals but that
became a even more touching subject with even more disagreement.
In my journey now I struggle to understand how people have
such strong opinions and think that it is a “choice to be like that.” Hearing
the word that is a ‘choice’ is really troublesome for me. When I heard that phrase ‘it is a choice’ I
just wanted to ask, how do you know it is a choice? I wanted to challenge those
I talked with by asking, ‘so it is your
choice to be straight?’ and the question of ‘how did you know when you were
straight?’ During my conservations I had these thoughts just running through my
mind but did not have the courage to ask. I was fearful of causing an argument and
causing tension with friends that I have had for many of years. At this stage
of my journey disrupting the cycle I find most challenging for myself. I feel
more comfortable talking about the social issue but when it comes to people disagreeing
and some of the reasons why they disagree, I have a hard time accepting their
point of view. In the end, even though I
did not witness incidences of
"micro-aggression"/"causal oppression.” I do feel as if I did
create some awareness of the social issue topic.
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