A l l y S k i l l s Wo r k s h o p F a c i l i - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

A l l y S k i l l s Wo r k s h o p F a c i l i t a t o r T r a i n i n g Valerie Aurora Director of Training The Ada Initiative http://adainitiative.org contact@adainitiative.org All materials CC BY-SA Ada Initiative

F o r ma t o f t h i s c l a s s ● 10:00am Introduction ● 10:10am Example Ally Skills Workshop ● 11:00am Review of teaching techniques ● 12:00pm Lunch break ● 1:30pm Students teach a scenario with teacher feedback (with break) ● 4:00pm Question and answer session ● 4:30pm Freeform discussion

Wh a t i s t h e A l l y S k i l l s Wo r k s h o p ? ● Focused on teaching men how to support women in their daily lives ● Audience: volunteer-only, agrees sexism already exists, wants to end it, 20-40% women ideally ● Mainly small group discussion, alternating with all-workshop report-out ● “Ally skills” vs. “allies”: focuses on actions rather than self-identification

Wh y f a c i l i t a t i n g t h e A l l y S k i l l s Wo r k s h o p i s f u n ● People love it! “Can we get more training like that?” actual comment from student ● Get to watch people have “Aha” moments ● Taking action to end social injustice is super fulfilling ● Highly interactive, time flies ● No two workshops are ever the same

Wh y f a c i l i t a t i n g t h e A l l y S k i l l s Wo r k s h o p i s h a r d ● People ask tough questions ● People say discriminatory things without realizing it ● If you teach it long enough, you will have to kick someone out ● HR really wants you to say things that help the company, but your focus is the people

E x a mp l e A l l y S k i l l s Wo r k s h o p

P r e p a r i n g y o u r s e l f f o r t e a c h i n g t h e wo r k s h o p ● Read the facilitator's guide: http://supportada.org/allies ● Read Geek Feminism Wiki: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com ● Read “Feminism is for Everybody” by bell hooks and “Women, Class, and Race” by Angela Davis ● Practice reframing questions

Wo r k s h o p s t r u c t u r e a n d p a r t i c i p a n t s ● Participants must be volunteers ● Avoid large power differences between participants ● Ideal class size is 20 to 30 participants ● Aim for 20-40% women ● Ideal time is 3 hours (2 can be done) ● Take breaks each hour or so

T y p i c a l wo r k s h o p f o r ma t ● 20 minute introduction ● 50 minutes discussion of scenarios ● 10 minute break (with snacks) ● 50 minutes discussion of scenarios ● 10 minute break (with snacks) ● 50 minutes discussion of scenarios ● 10 minute wrap-up

Wh a t t o b r i n g t o t h e wo r k s h o p ● A clicker and video input/output converter ● A stopwatch or timer (to time the scenario discussions) ● A bell to signal the end of scenario discussions ● Printouts of the Ally Skills Workshop handout for all participants

C h o o s i n g s c e n a r i o s ● Scenarios are real-world examples of situations in which people can act as allies ● Start with easy scenarios ● Example slides include more scenarios than you can cover in 3 hours ● Ask participants for suggestions in advance and/or take requests during workshop if you feel prepared

I n t r o d u c i n g t h e wo r k s h o p ● Introduce yourself ● Optionally stall for time by asking why people came to the workshop ● Give credit according to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license ● Describe the high level format and schedule

D e f i n e t e r ms f o r g e n d e r ● Workshop designed for men who want to support women, which can lead to the assumption that those are all the genders that exist ● Easy to get cis-sexist in this workshop ● Define “cis” before “trans” ● Also a good chance to discourage using “girls” and “females”

E x p l a i n t h e f o c u s o n me n a s a l l i e s ● Reduce self-doubt ● Increase likelihood of taking action ● Introduce concept of male privilege ● Set higher expectations for responses

S e t t h e s c o p e ● The workshop is for people who already believe sexism is a problem and want to help ● Even with volunteer-only policy, people will show up who don't agree ● Arguing Feminism 101 will take up too much time and probably not change anyone's mind, so don't do it

S e t r u l e s f o r c r e a t i n g a s a f e r s p a c e ● Workshop only works if people feels safe asking genuine questions and making mistakes ● Don't record the workshop ● Ask people not to repeat unflattering things ● Lead by example

D e s c r i b e d i s c u s s i o n f o r ma t ● Participants cannot be told enough times what to expect ● Split into groups of 4 - 6 people ● Listen to scenario ● Discuss scenario 3 - 5 minutes ● Report out to whole workshop ● Brief closing ● Optional post-workshop discussion

B r e a k t h e t e n s i o n ● Everyone is pretty nervous! Talking about sexism, sex, gender is super hard ● Use cat photos or some form of inoffensive unrelated humor to break the tension ● If it doesn't work right away, keep talking about how awkward the awkwardness is until the tension does break

G i v e b a s i c g u i d e l i n e s o f r e s p o n d i n g t o s e x i s m ● People have tons of self-imposed rules for responding to sexism: must be witty, compelling, well-researched, etc. ● Identifying and lowering these standards increases chances of taking action ● Participants are usually relieved

E n c o u r a g e p e o p l e t o f o r m g r o u p s ● Most people hate this ● Point out that this is a room full of volunteers for an ally skills workshop ● Emphasize importance of diversity in groups: gender, other axes if possible ● Be ready to help people make decisions, swap people around, etc. ● Don't assume gender based on presentation

H e l p g r o u p s f o r m a t i n y b i t o f s t r u c t u r e ● Participants want a little more guidance ● If someone is dominating their conversation they don't know what to do ● Ask them to pick a “gatekeeper” to moderate the conversation ● Ask them to pick someone to report out ● The person to report out can and should rotate per scenario

G u i d i n g s c e n a r i o d i s c u s s i o n ● Each scenario takes about 12 - 15 minutes total ● Read the scenario ● Tell them to discuss for 3 - 5 minutes ● Pay attention to rhythm of discussion, if someone is dominating, etc. ● Give 30 seconds warning before ending discussion

G u i d i n g s c e n a r i o r e p o r t - o u t ● Ask everyone to stop talking (they won't) - a bell may be useful ● Starting with a different group, ask them to report out major points of discussion ● Briefly affirm good suggestions ● Briefly explain bad suggestions ● Wait till end of report-out to add any missed points - give participants a chance to discover them first

I n t e r s p e r s e u s e f u l t i p s ● Certain questions almost certainly will come up in certain scenarios ● Example slides come with “tips” slides in between scenarios

D i s c u s s i o n l e a d e r s k i l l s ● Let participants come up with answers first ● Summarize missed points at end of discussion ● Use real-world examples when possible ● Affirm and praise frequently

D i s c u s s i o n l e a d e r s k i l l s ● Interrupt people when necessary ● Reframe questions when necessary ● Be willing to say “I don't know” ● Practice saying “Let's take that off-line” ● Be compassionate and understanding

R e f r a mi n g q u e s t i o n s ● Will get genuine “But this is a logical contradiction!” kind of questions ● Affirm the validity of the question ● Look for the assumptions that turn anti- sexism into a logical error ● Reframe the question with feminist assumptions

R e f r a mi n g q u e s t i o n s ● “You say you want us to treat women like everyone else, but then you want us to act differently. That's illogical!” ● Assumption: the way men treat men in this field is the norm and they like it ● Reframe: Want people to treat everyone with respect, need to redefine “norm” as not just white straight cis men in an abusive culture

R e f r a mi n g q u e s t i o n s ● “Making jokes about sex isn't sexist. Women like to have sex too.” ● Assumption: Societal attitudes about sex are the same for women as for men ● Reframe: In the context of societal attitudes about women and sex, talking about sex shifts the conversation into an area where women are by default objectified, shamed, and victimized