[face equality]

With another 007 film about to come out, featuring more villains with disfigured faces, it's timely to mention Face Equality International, an organization whose goal is:

Creating a world where everyone is treated fairly whatever their face looks like.

"Face Equality International is an alliance of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), charities and support groups which are working at national, regional or international levels to promote the campaign for ‘face equality’."

"The campaign for ‘face equality’ was launched in May 2008 by the UK charity/NGO, Changing Faces, with the aim of creating a world in which people who have disfigurements to their face from any cause are accepted and valued as equal citizens, free of prejudice, low expectations and stigma. The campaign has attracted worldwide attention and has strong parallels with those against racism and sexism."

Even though I'm involved in a lot of diversity and inclusion initiatives and projects, it had never crossed my mind to consider how people whose faces are disfigured (for any number of reasons) are typically portrayed as villains and "bad guys" in the movies and TV shows. I certainly notice how most shows feature white people as the primary characters, perhaps with a Black person as a secondary character -- the friend, or the neighbour, etc.

Read more:

https://faceequalityinternational.org/

Including great resources for schools and teachers: https://faceequalityinternational.org/resources/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/faceequalityint

Metro article on new 007 movie and how it promotes fears of facial scars:

https://metro.co.uk/2021/09/30/why-i-worry-bonds-new-villain-will-promote-fears-of-facial-scars-15310850/

[you don't say... campaign by duke university]

"You Don’t Say? is a campaign founded by senior Daniel Kort and juniors Anuj Chhabra, Christie Lawrence and Jay Sullivan that aims to raise student awareness about the offensive nature of phrases and slurs used in everyday conversation through photographs shared using an online campaign." (source)

The latest part of this campaign features 41 student-athletes, who were each asked to choose a phrase that mattered to them.

What is it that #YouDontSay? pic.twitter.com/hykbOrfc2r
— You Don't Say (@youdontsayduke) January 15, 2015

Check out a lot more photos.
Additional photos of Cornell University students doing a series of similar ads.

Read more background info.

Follow on twitter.

faceless

Do we see other people as faceless?

What preconceived ideas do we have as to what constitutes a person and what does not?

Google seems to have some ideas about it. Here's that it said when I uploaded my choice of profile photo:

[in or out]

I couldn't resist posting this image from www.postsecret.com (week of January 21/12). It illustrates how we sometimes judge people based on the silliest things.

FYI
Postsecret.com is a website to which people send their secrets on postcards. Each week, a selection of postcards is shown online. The postcards cover a wide range of topics and emotions. Richard Beck has written about postsecret.com on his blog, particularly from his perspective as a research psychologist. On his first post on the topic, Beck says,

No doubt, many with find PostSecret odd, exhibitionistic, ill, and voyeuristic. I think these adjectives do apply. But at its core I think PostSecret has touched a nerve and is meeting a need. A need for authenticity and acceptance that the church has failed to address.

blond

Have you ever heard a blond joke which was about a blond guy? I haven't. Blond jokes -- even if the target is just referred to as "a blond", are always about women.

So along with the discrimination and prejudice which women generally face, a woman who is blond has an additional layer to tend with. This is sometimes referred to as intersectionality -- when more than one type of discrimination or prejudice impacts a person. Another example of this is the experience of black women who are discriminated against based on both gender and race.

bad roots

At an overt level, this cartoon simply takes the name "carrot top" and literalizes it, providing some comic relief while at the same time making the point that how we decide to make fun of people with one hair colour and not those with other hair colours is rather relative even if originally there was some source for the division.

The cartoon also provides me the opportunity to link to an excellent video about bullying. I like this video because words are secondary to the imagery and action, and even more because of the positive and unexpected way that one student responds to seeing the other student being bullied:



Aside from anti-bullying initiatives and policies, we as individuals can also make a difference for those who are bullied, mistreated, misrepresented, rejected, and so on. Am I willing to stand with those who are bullied, even if it means others look down on me? Even if others think I'm like them?

I'm reminded of how Jesus was referred to as "a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collector and sinners" (Matthew 11: 19). It seems these days, that we who claim to follow Jesus are rather reluctant to identify with those on the margins, and even more reluctant to be (perhaps mistakenly) identified as one of them. What's with that?

no transfats

This is the first cartoon which I drew in conjunction with thinking about the range of topics which you will see this blog covering. It takes a symbol which we find on many food products and gives it a little twist by applying it to a church.

How does the sign's message interact with the message of the official 'all welcome' sign?

How might the person approaching the church be feeling about it? How might ze feel when considering the sign and the person in the doorway?

Are all really welcome here? How about at your church, in your workplace, in your home?