Let's talk about othering.
Who's doing it. Who's being othered. And why it matters.
Othering is often intentional without being overtly malicious or spiteful.
A group of White women sit down for lunch in the dining hall. They see their Black colleague sitting alone a few tables away. And they choose not to invite her to their table.
Othering often rears its ugly head in casual banter.
A group of straight men joking about a male colleague who they deem to be "different" because he wore a pink shirt to work yesterday.
Othering happens when the majority group fails to recognize the lived experience of a person from an underrepresented group.
Being othered sucks. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't inspire good work. It doesn't motivate people to create and innovate and collaborate.
Why do we other?
I suspect the main reason is because we don't feel wholly secure in who we are.
We are afraid.
Somehow we are threatened by anyone we perceive to be different than us – and therefore less than us.
When we other we display a lack of curiosity, a lack of empathy, a lack of self-actualization and self-awareness.
We show an alarming lack of understanding that our norm is not the norm.
When we other, we fail spectacularly to appreciate our shared humanity.