Module 7
Cultural Competency
This curriculum is intended to be a tool to assist domestic violence service providers offering victim services (such
as those outlined in California Penal Code §13823.15-13823.16) for the purpose of ensuring advocates working with
survivors meet the requirements of a “Domestic Violence Counselor” pursuant to Evidence Code §1037.1(a)(1).
Objectives
• To develop a common language related to
issues of oppression and privilege.
• To deepen an understanding of intersections
between domestic violence intervention,
prevention and issues of oppression, privilege
and bias.
• To develop tools to become allies committed to
promoting equity and inclusion within the
organizational culture of agencies, programs
and services.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 2
Author Unknown
“Rather than difference itself,
it is the response to difference that is the problem.
Rather than culture itself,
it is the attitudes about culture that are the problem.
Rather than diversity itself,
it is the ways in which major institutions of this country have responded to
culturally, racially and ethnically diverse people that is the major source of
our condition of ...inequality.”
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 3
Communication Agreements
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 4
A Delicate Balance
Stance
“How we walk in the world”
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 5
Strategies
“What we do in the world”
Balancing Cognitive and Affective
Domains and Application
Head: Thinking, Theory
Heart: Feeling, Emotion
Hand: Action
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 6
Community Building
“Community first...
then Work.”
Dr. James Comer
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 7
Intersectionality (Susanne Knudsen)
• Intersectionality is a theory which seeks to examine the
ways in which various socially and culturally
constructed categories interact on multiple levels to
manifest themselves as inequality in society.
• Intersectionality holds that various forms of oppression,
(e.g. racism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism,
classism, etc.) do not act independently of one
another; instead, these forms of oppression interrelate
creating a larger, more complex system of oppression
that reflects the "intersection" of multiple forms of
oppression.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 8
Intersectionality
• The theory of intersectionality also
suggests that discrete forms, and
expressions, of oppression actually shape,
and are shaped by, one another.
• I.e., in order to fully understand one
form of oppression, we need to
understand all forms of oppression.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 9
Developing a
Common Language:
Part I
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 10
Gender and Sexuality:
A Visual Map
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 11
Race
• A socially constructed concept used to put
people in categories based on ancestry and
physical characteristics without basis in
biological facts.
• Biologically speaking, there is no such thing as
different human races.
• The term has attained socio-political
significance as a tool for oppressing groups of
people based on common physical
characteristics.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 12
People of Color
• A term of solidarity used to describe
those targeted by racism and denied the
status (and the accompanying benefits)
of being white.
• People of Color include: Peoples of
African, Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian and
Pacific Islander, Latino/a, Native
American, Indigenous, and
Biracial/Multiracial/Mixed heritages.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 13
White
• A term used to describe people of
European ancestry who have historically
held positions of dominance and social
power in Western society.
• Note: Perception only, and the definition
has changed over time.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 14
Developing a
Common Language:
Part II
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 15
Developing a Common Language
“You can’t deal with a problem if you don’t
name it; once you name it, you can think, talk
and write about it. You can make sense of it by
seeing how it is connected to other things that
explain it and point towards solutions.”
- Allan G. Johnson
Privilege, Power and Difference
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 16
Common Language
Intrapersonal
Thoughts
STEREOTYPE
Feelings / Beliefs
PREJUDICE
Behaviors / Actions
Interpersonal
Institutional /
Systemic
DISCRIMINATION
OPPRESSION
Policies, Procedures,
Practices, Structures,
Culture, Laws, Norms,
Values
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 17
(i.e. Structural
Inequality or the
“isms”)
Racism
• A system of oppression based on race that
privileges white people and targets
people of color.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 18
Heterosexism
• A system of oppression based on sexual
orientation that privileges straight people
and targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
queer people.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 19
Sexism
• A form of oppression based on gender
that privileges men and targets women
and transgender/genderqueer people.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 20
Genderism
• A system of oppression that grants power
and privilege to people whose biological
sex is consistent with their gender
identity (also called “cisgender” people)
and that targets people whose gender
identity is different from their biological
sex (i.e. transgender or genderqueer
people).
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 21
Homophobia
• The fear, dislike, or hatred of gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and queer people.
• This includes:
– the fear of being labeled by association with or
perceived as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer;
– the fear of one’s own feelings towards members of
the same sex; and
– the fear of behavior that is outside the boundaries of
traditional gender roles.
• Homophobia is used to reinforce both sexism
and heterosexism.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 22
Transphobia
• The fear, dislike, or hatred of people who
are transgender or genderqueer
• This includes:
– the fear of being labeled by association with or
perceived as gender nonconforming;
– the fear of behavior that is outside the boundaries of
traditional gender roles.
• Transphobia is used to reinforce genderism,
sexism and heterosexism.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 23
Prejudice vs. Oppression
• Homophobia, transphobia, & biphobia are
forms of prejudice
• Heterosexism & genderism are forms of
oppression
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 24
Oppression:
How do we get rid of it?
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 25
Table of Oppression
Racism
Ageism
Classism
Sexism
OPPRESSION
Heterosexism
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 26
Anti-Semitism
Ableism
Table of Oppression
Racism
Ageism
Classism
Sexism
OPPRESSION
Heterosexism
Privilege
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 27
Anti-Semitism
Ableism
Privilege
Unearned access to resources that enhance
one’s chances of getting what one needs or
influencing others in order to lead a safe,
productive, fulfilling life.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 28
Table of Oppression
Racism
Ageism
Classism
Sexism
OPPRESSION
Heterosexism
Targeting
Privilege
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 29
Anti-Semitism
Ableism
Targeting
The denial of access, resources and
opportunities that might enhance chances
of getting what one wants and influencing
others. Systemic injurious treatment
directed towards members of target groups
(also called systemic discrimination).
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 30
Table of Oppression
Racism
Ageism
Classism
Sexism
OPPRESSION
Heterosexism
Ableism
Anti-Semitism
Collusion
Collusion
Targeting
Privilege
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 31
Collusion
Working together to make something
happen . . .
– Intentionally or unintentionally
– Consciously or unconsciously
– by action, inaction or silence
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 32
Table of Oppression
Racism
Ageism
Classism
Sexism
OPPRESSION
Heterosexism
Anti-Semitism
Collusion
Privilege Group
Collusion
Targeting
Privilege
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 33
Ableism
Privilege Group Collusion
The things privilege groups and privilege group
members do to perpetuate systems of oppression.
Internalized Superiority:
When members of privilege groups either
consciously or unconsciously learn to look at
themselves, each other, and society through a
distorted lens such that the structural privileges
they enjoy and the cultural practices and values
of their group are represented as, seen as, and
felt and believed to be normal and universal.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 34
Table of Oppression
Racism
Ageism
Classism
Sexism
OPPRESSION
Privilege Group
Collusion
Targeting
Privilege
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 35
Anti-Semitism
Target Group
Collusion
Heterosexism
Ableism
Target Group Collusion
Things target groups and target group
members do to perpetuate their own
oppression.
Internalized Oppression:
Destructive patterns of feelings and
behaviors experienced by the targets of
oppression, turned inward upon themselves
and directed at each other.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 36
Table of Oppression
Racism
Ageism
Classism
Sexism
OPPRESSION
Privilege Group
Collusion
Targeting
Privilege
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 37
Anti-Semitism
Target Group
Collusion
Heterosexism
Ableism
Audre Lorde…
The true focus of revolutionary change is
never the oppressive situations which we
seek to escape, but that piece of the
oppressor which is planted deep within us.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 38
Intersectionality of Oppression
Common
Tactic
Sexism and Sexist
Violence/Oppression
Emotional
abuse
Calling a woman a bitch
Calling her an angry, black bitch
Economic
abuse
Women paid 76 cents per man’s $1.00
African American women make 53
cents
Minimizing
Women would get out if it was bad
African American women have a
matriarchy
Blaming
Women push men’s buttons
+
Racism
African American women
emasculate men
Denying
When women say no, they mean yes
African American women are
insatiable animals
Privilege of
status
The Bible says women should submit
Real African tradition=patriarchy
Women should stay in the home
African American women =welfare
queens
Using
children
Intersectionality of Oppression
Common
Tactic
Sexism and Sexist
Violence/Oppression
Emotional
abuse
Calling a woman a bitch
Calling her an angry, black
bitch
Called an angry, black
dyke
Economic
abuse
Women paid 76 cents per
man’s $1.00
African American women
make 53 cents
African American women
make 53 cents, with no
benefits
Minimizing
Women would get out if it
was bad
African American women
have a matriarchy
It’s just two women in a
fight
Women push men’s buttons
African American women
emasculate men
Black lesbians try to be
men
Denying
When women say no, they
mean yes
African American women
are insatiable animals
Queer blacks are
hypersexual
Privilege of
status
The Bible says women should
submit
Real African
tradition=patriarchy
“Lifestyle” is against God
and community
Women should stay in the
home
African American women
=welfare queens
Black lesbians are not fit
parents
Blaming
Using
children
+
Racism
+
Heterosexism
Terms about liberation…
• Resistance:
– Resistance/insurgence: The resistance to or
insurgence against oppression and/or
internalized oppression by members of a
target group.
– Also: the resistance to or insurgence against
conditioning or unquestioned privilege by
members of a privilege group.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 41
Ally
• Someone from the non-target group—or a
different target group—who will "stand in
the way" of oppression when it is aimed
at a target person
• Someone who will question and resist the
institutionalized oppression as best as
s/he can.
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 42
Alliance
• A close association formed to advance a common
interest in anti-oppression philosophies and actions.
• Building networks to provide support for
transformations.
• Inclusion and fostering of diversity are components
of an effective anti-oppression alliance.
• Multicultural leadership styles can be the catalysts of
“alliance.”
• Leaders bring people together and inspire them to
collective action; ALLIANCE!
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 43
What Can We Do
About Oppression
as Individuals?
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 44
Top 10 Things Privilege Group Members
Do to Avoid Dealing With Oppression…
1. “Yeah, buts”
2. Data Pile On
3. P.L.E.s (Perfectly Logical Explanations)
4. “I’m colorblind. I don’t see color.”
5. “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.”
6. Reverse Racism
7. “Lighten up, don’t take it so seriously.”
8. “Don’t blame me . . .”
9. Innocent by association or “Some of my best friends are …”
10. BWAME – But What About Me?
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 45
Things Target Group Members Do that
Avoid Addressing Oppression…
•
Generalizing
•
Only being able to access one emotion as opposed to a
full range.
•
“Our pain is worse than your pain.”
•
“Don’t air our dirty laundry.”
•
Numbness
•
DENIAL – Don’t Even kNow I Am Lying
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 46
Tactics of Oppression
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Emotional Abuse
Economic Abuse
Isolation
Privilege of Status
Using Children
Minimizing, Denying and Blaming
Intimidation and Threats
Using Violence
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 47
Tactics of Inclusion
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Take action
Listen/learn
Use your privilege
Support the target person’s leadership
Go after other non-target group members
Take a chance; make mistakes
Take care of yourself. Get support, accept
support
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 48
Resources
Module 7 • Cultural Competency • Published 2012 • Slide 49
This project was supported by Grant Number G-1101CAFVPS from the Administration on Children,
Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) through the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA).
The opinions, findings, and conclusions in this publication are those of the author and not
necessarily those of HHS nor Cal EMA.
Cal EMA reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish, and
use these materials and to authorize others to do so.