Foster Care Training

During this workshop participants will explore their own understanding of and assumptions related to sex, gender, identity, and oppression. We will unearth the ways that the binary system of masculine/feminine and female/male result in microaggressions* toward sex and gender variant identified individuals. We will also work to develop skills and methodology needed to provide safe spaces for sex/gender non-conforming youth in care, and in our workplaces and communities.

Through lecture, activities, personal reflection, observation, dialogue and practice, participants in the workshop will cultivate an understanding of gender oppression and how it impacts individuals who do not fit into the rigid constructions of the sex and gender binary. Attendees will learn basic terminology related to sex/gender and gender oppression. And will have the opportunity to share their own experiences and ideas for action aimed at interrupting gender oppression within our workplaces, and our larger communities.

*microaggression – The term “microaggression” was used by Columbia professor Derald Sue to refer to “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.” Sue borrowed the term from psychiatrist Dr. Chester Pierce who coined the term in the ’70s.