10 Counterproductive Behaviors of Social Justice Educators

10 Counterproductive Behaviors of Social Justice Educators (downloadable pdf) by Cody Charles for The Body is Not an Apology. While we may not all be Social Justice Educators (or warriors, SJW, as twitter calls them), this list contains excellent reminders for positioning yourself in social justice work, and many could be adopted as workplace values.

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5. Not acknowledging our self-work.

We MUST acknowledge that we are a work in progress; we both challenge the oppressive systems and collude in them simultaneously. At every step we have to understand that we are not the authorities, but facilitators of dynamic conversations. And we will often fall short. We are at times engaging from places with tremendous hurt and an abundance of privilege. It makes sense that we have off moments or are flat out missing something because of our privilege. We are not the best at allowing ourselves to be challenged. When we block our self-work, it means that we are no longer growing and that we are role-modeling destructive behavior to others. For example, it is highly problematic to be an expert in gender identity and expression and have no understanding of the intersections of those identities within race and class.

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