My Positionality Essay

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Recommended: Discrimination against disabled people

Our positionality is often the way in which society will try to define us. Based on your positionality people will unconsciously make a decision in their minds about whether or not they should accept you. When I examine my own positionality it is difficult to think of the ways that it ties into the social construction of deviance. Based on the experiences I have had in my life as well as the things that I have only witnessed, I would say that I see areas in which I have been targeted based on my race, age, gender, and sexuality, and ways that I could end up being targeted. I feel targeted in the areas of my race and age. Being African American, you automatically face so many different forms of oppression and are targeted in more ways than one. In almost any situation you could think to imagine, people automatically assume the most negative aspects about you. Being white would grant me many benefits in terms of privilege. Many people in society have the mindset that considers white to be good and black is bad. So I feel absolutely no form of privilege whatsoever based on my race. If I were a white woman, I would feel extremely privileged because of the ways society would view me and the advances and opportunities that would come along with it as well as an overwhelming feeling of liberation …show more content…

It’s not until you discover readings such as this that you realize that you have so many privileges that you take for granted. Being a female in a male dominated society automatically leaves your vulnerable to face many forms of discrimination. People with disabilities often get the short end of the stick. The world is designed for people who are “normal” and for those with physical challenges to make their way through in the best way that they can. Because I don’t have a physical handicap, I consider that to be a privilege within

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