Personal Identity: My Role In Oppression

While each course throughout this academic program touches on social justice and anti-oppressive practice, this current course in particular forced me to examine my own identity in a way that I had not done before. Primarily, this course emphasized the importance of recognizing the impact of our own identities on the people that we work with and asked us to deeply examine our roles in oppression and social justice issues. Admittedly, I had not explored my own identity as a White, heterosexual female in previous courses to this extent and lacked some self-awareness. Now that I have started to explore what my identity means in my personal and professional life, I am overwhelmed with how I can apply this to my work. This critical reflection presented in this paper is an attempt to further explore my personal identity, my role in oppression, what I have learned about myself, and what I will bring to my role in social work.
Personal and Professional Reflection In this course, I was forced to examine and critically reflect on my own social identity through the use of various activities. One activity that contributed to my understanding about privilege was one that Mullaly (2010) calls the "Web of Oppression" (p. 198). This exercise allowed …show more content…
Mcintosh (1998) talks about understanding white privilege and unpacking the invisible knapsack which is filled with access, opportunities, and advantages. I thought that I was self-aware and understood my own role in oppression well, but in exploring white privilege through the work of Mcintosh (1998) and Mullaly (2010), I recognized that I was oblivious to my privilege and to invisible forms of oppression. For instance, my privilege impacts the relationships that I develop with other people, my access to education, employment opportunities, and how I am viewed by others in positions of