Inclusivity, Exclusion, and Safe Space: Can These Concepts Coexist?
July 2, 2012 by Matt Kailey
http://tranifesto.com/2012/07/02/inclusivity-exclusion-and-safe-space-can-these-concepts-coexist/ (http://tranifesto.com/2012/07/02/inclusivity-exclusion-and-safe-space-can-these-concepts-coexist/)
Those questions are: What does it mean to be truly "inclusive"? Does targeting a particular group for an event, or even a workshop at a conference, constitute exclusion? If an event is not open to everyone, is it automatically exclusionary? And what about "safe space"? Is that an exclusionary concept in and of itself?
I don't know the answers. I have opinions, and my opinions sometimes change and they sometimes can be changed, based on the argument presented. But even though I have opinions, I still struggle with these questions, along with what is right, wrong, and most beneficial to all involved. At the time that I am writing this, these are my current thoughts:
> An oppressed group has the right to remove itself from its oppressor, at any time and for any reason. (An oppressor group, in my opinion, does not have this same right – to remove itself from the oppressed.) An oppressed group denying entrance to its oppressor is not being exclusionary. It is creating safe space.