AI: A Change of Perspectives
By This week, Courtney’s awesome asexuality pieces had me rethinking a lot of my previous conceptions on, well, a lot of things. And this rethinking of my own already formed ideas has been happening quite frequently since I joined Queereka.
The site has been an amazing opportunity to meet (awesome) people from the most various backgrounds, people that pushed me to try and know their realities better, to try and understand all the different perspectives they bring. I can say I am not only a better educated person because of Queereka, I am also more willing to be educated further. And that makes me quite proud of myself (and of us as a group).
So this is my question for today:
Have you ever experienced something like this? A group of people or a situation that you feel completely changed your perspectives? Do you think it’s important to seek those experiences and exchanges? Do you think knowing more about the diversity of our components is something the queer community needs?
The Afternoon Inqueery (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Queereka community. Look for it to appear on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 3pm ET.
Fun question! I have had the experience of someone or something really making me examine my assumptions many times before, on a whole variety of issues. I have noticed that those do NOT come when I go looking for them. In my life they have not been forced or even sought out.
I do think there is value in exposing ourselves to new ideas and different opinions than our own, but my change of mind experiences have generally come when someone I already liked and respected brought new ideas into conversation. They did not develop out of seeking out people with whom I had disagreement.
Your last question is a different one – Yes I firmly believe that diversity within the queer community is important, and knowing more about the diverse backgrounds of people who identify as queer is crucial. This isn't a new concept to me though – it's the root of what I find valuable about participating actively in queer community, rather than existing as a queer person in isolation.