Obliviously Biased: Get conscious about your unconscious bias
We’ve all sneered at the woman who walks into the room with a curve hugging outfit and heels to match, or we’ve stared at the woman who favors a more androgynous look that just isn’t feminine enough for us. Like no way she’s heterosexual with that masculine outfit. We have unconscious bias against these people just because we’ve unconsciously judged them to be a certain way based on appearance.
The unconscious bias that I have experienced go hand in hand with the ones I have. Yes, me a black woman working in corporate America actually has unconscious bias towards others. When I came to this realization anxiety ensued because how could I be apart of the very problem I would like to end?
It’s so conflicting because we are all raised to have some sort of unconscious bias that is passed on from generation to generation. It’s handed down like those fugly family heirlooms that we can’t seem to part with. These are ingrained in our very own DNA.
How many people have thought that white people prepare bland foods? I personally did, and whenever I would go to a classmate’s party that wasn’t black I was very apprehensive about the food. Or have you assumed that the Asian kid in class was always the smartest even though you never really had any proof? Or that every twenty something year old white cisgender male is a trump supporter.
We even project some of these unconscious biases onto ourselves. I’ve looked in the mirror at my clothes and tried to dress a certain way so that I could avoid bias. When I speak at work I constantly replay my words on a loop to make sure nothing came off too aggressive or threatening. My neutral face in the office has become a bit of a smirk so that I seem pleasant and gentle.
That’s the part that I find the hardest, because we even have unconscious bias towards ourselves. As women we feel obligated to smile at men, and dress in an appealing way. God forbid you gain weight, then you’ve just lost all appeal. In America we have a huge conscious and unconscious bias towards women that are deemed unattractive. And who decides what’s attractive? Let’s not even go down the rabbit hole…..
How do we stop? I can tell you how I’m starting. I have made the very conscious effort to stop defining people by their race when it’s not necessary. I’ve decided I will identify individuals behaviors as just their own and not as an action of an entire race. I will not allow gender norms to dictate how I view someone, or shape how I view or portray myself to be. I will continue to consciously keep myself in diverse communities so that I am always interacting with someone new and different than myself.
I challenge you to do the same because unconscious bias take very conscious efforts to undo.
