MJ Ray <[email protected]> writes: > 2. the continuing existance of the Debian Women mailing list illustrates > one way the whole-project level still does not honour diversity and > creates special spaces for some groups but not others.
I just can't let this stand. Color-blindness is a myth. And gender-blindness is a myth. Both of them are destructive myths that are used to cover up inequities by refusing to talk about them on the grounds that we should instead be blind to the ongoing problems, making both terms rather apt. Difference-blind policies only work to sustain an environment that already has no discrimination and absolute diversity. That world of magical unicorns does not exist. It is certainly not the world we live in. And difference-blind policies applied to the actual, imperfect world we have destroy diversity rather than create it, because they perpetuate the status quo and destroy the ability to talk about the ways in which the world is not made of magical unicorns. The majority group always thinks that it is welcoming, and uses the difference-blind policy to shout down minority groups whenever they disagree. Creating safe space for groups who may otherwise be marginalized is one of the key steps in diversity, and is vital to creating a more diverse environment in the larger project. You CANNOT jump directly from "women are only 5% of the participants and are not welcomed" to "we ignore gender and everyone contributes in the same spaces in the same way." It flatly doesn't work. *Humans* don't work that way. You need support networks, support groups, safe spaces, and other techniques to *build* diversity and change the culture incrementally, not simply wish it into existence. We are a very long way from being in a place where difference supposedly unrelated to the goal of the community can be ignored completely, if it's even possible for humans to *ever* reach such a place. The first step in being diverse is being *aware*. You cannot be aware when you're blind. -- Russ Allbery ([email protected]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/> -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
