This one went up last night, instead of Monday. But I'm pleased with the result.
(![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
heroofthreefaces, whom I cite in this video, is known as ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
scarfman around these parts)
(
scarfman around these parts)
The other day on the radio, I listened to an interview with a speech coach. She was actually billed as a "Speech Therapist," but as the interview focused on her work helping people find more comfortable ways to use their voices, to help project their intentional self-image to the world, rather than her work correcting actual speech impediments, I think "coach" is a better fit in this context.
And in "Part 2," the interviewer invited her to rant about the "Epidemic" of up speak (or, as it's listed in Wikipedia, High rising terminal). I bet you're familiar with this? It's the vocal habit of intoning declarative sentences as if they are questions?
Now, I remember back in the late '80s or early 90s -- 25 freakin' years ago! -- when hand-wringing over "up speak" began. It was seen back then -- and reiterated by this therapist/coach the other day -- as a "bad habit" of young women, used as a way to appear less threatening, or socially appeasing, maybe, and was (is) described as a way to infantilize yourself.
Okay. Fine.
And then this woman said that something remarkable and terrible is happening: Men are starting to use it, too (Oh, noez!).
Now, here's the thing: Back-in-the-day, the "cultural explosion" of this strange new phenomenon of "up speak" was explained as being the result of all these young women leaving college and entering traditionally male business careers. And by using high rising terminal speech, they were appeasing their male employers by playing into their expectations that women were all just really little girls (Better that than be a "B--ch," right?).
And I couldn't help thinking: If those who present as White, Cisgendered, Native Anglophone, Business Elite Educated, Males (the people at the very top of the American Privilege Pyramid) are using it now, than maybe it never just about socially kowtowing to those above you in the pyramid. If those who are least likely to need social cushioning have picked it up, then maybe (*gasp*) it might have more value than we first imagined.
And in "Part 2," the interviewer invited her to rant about the "Epidemic" of up speak (or, as it's listed in Wikipedia, High rising terminal). I bet you're familiar with this? It's the vocal habit of intoning declarative sentences as if they are questions?
Now, I remember back in the late '80s or early 90s -- 25 freakin' years ago! -- when hand-wringing over "up speak" began. It was seen back then -- and reiterated by this therapist/coach the other day -- as a "bad habit" of young women, used as a way to appear less threatening, or socially appeasing, maybe, and was (is) described as a way to infantilize yourself.
Okay. Fine.
And then this woman said that something remarkable and terrible is happening: Men are starting to use it, too (Oh, noez!).
Now, here's the thing: Back-in-the-day, the "cultural explosion" of this strange new phenomenon of "up speak" was explained as being the result of all these young women leaving college and entering traditionally male business careers. And by using high rising terminal speech, they were appeasing their male employers by playing into their expectations that women were all just really little girls (Better that than be a "B--ch," right?).
And I couldn't help thinking: If those who present as White, Cisgendered, Native Anglophone, Business Elite Educated, Males (the people at the very top of the American Privilege Pyramid) are using it now, than maybe it never just about socially kowtowing to those above you in the pyramid. If those who are least likely to need social cushioning have picked it up, then maybe (*gasp*) it might have more value than we first imagined.
Now that I
a) am learning how to make simple, slide-show-based videos with "Windows Movie Maker" and
b) have a means to record my own voice-overs,
I'm thinking of making a series of slide-show based videos out of this post My own version of the Bipedal Privilege Backpack (each video focusing on two or three privileges at a time, and illustrated with stick-figure cartoons).
And I'd like to open with a discussion of what "Privilege" is, and what it means to have "an invisible backpack" full of it.
So I'm asking my circle:
What counts as "privilege"? Is privilege always founded in culturally determined biases? Is that the difference between "privilege" and "natural ability"?
and also: Whence the metaphor of the "invisible backpack"? Who thought that up, and what was the inspiration?
a) am learning how to make simple, slide-show-based videos with "Windows Movie Maker" and
b) have a means to record my own voice-overs,
I'm thinking of making a series of slide-show based videos out of this post My own version of the Bipedal Privilege Backpack (each video focusing on two or three privileges at a time, and illustrated with stick-figure cartoons).
And I'd like to open with a discussion of what "Privilege" is, and what it means to have "an invisible backpack" full of it.
So I'm asking my circle:
What counts as "privilege"? Is privilege always founded in culturally determined biases? Is that the difference between "privilege" and "natural ability"?
and also: Whence the metaphor of the "invisible backpack"? Who thought that up, and what was the inspiration?
This last Monday (December 4, 2011) ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
haddayr posted this link to "The Invisible Backpack of Able-Bodied Privilege Checklist" over at the B-tch on Wheels blog:
http://exposingableism.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/the-invisible-backpack-of-able-bodied-privilege-checklist/
I, personally, think it's a fabulous list, and everything on it is true... And you should read it, and think about it, and remember it.
But: a) Its focus is very specific to mobility-based disability (so it misses issues that come up for people with invisible, sensory, or intellectual disabilities) so if I had my druthers, I'd rename it to something like "ambulatory privilege" or "bipedal privilege; and b) while every privilege she lists is important and true, I think that some of the privileges she lists are not quite as important as others (at least, to me).
So, using her list as a template, and keeping the list the same length, here's my take, behind the cut (some of the items on the list are essentially the same, but put into my own words, for clarity, and a few items have been swapped out):
( Invisible Backpack of Bipedal Privilege (21 items) Checklist )
haddayr posted this link to "The Invisible Backpack of Able-Bodied Privilege Checklist" over at the B-tch on Wheels blog: http://exposingableism.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/the-invisible-backpack-of-able-bodied-privilege-checklist/
I, personally, think it's a fabulous list, and everything on it is true... And you should read it, and think about it, and remember it.
But: a) Its focus is very specific to mobility-based disability (so it misses issues that come up for people with invisible, sensory, or intellectual disabilities) so if I had my druthers, I'd rename it to something like "ambulatory privilege" or "bipedal privilege; and b) while every privilege she lists is important and true, I think that some of the privileges she lists are not quite as important as others (at least, to me).
So, using her list as a template, and keeping the list the same length, here's my take, behind the cut (some of the items on the list are essentially the same, but put into my own words, for clarity, and a few items have been swapped out):
( Invisible Backpack of Bipedal Privilege (21 items) Checklist )
