What is dominance and why is it a problem?

Dominant behavior is what we call behaviors that are instilled in privileged people in our system at an early age.
With these behaviors, we unconsciously and unintentionally contribute to preventing people from non-privileged groups from participating.
Since most of us are privileged in one way or another (simply because we live in the Global North), most of us have also learned such behaviors.

How can I have dominant behavior, when I stand up for justice?

An example (inspired by the wonderful activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor):
You go to a meeting of your local climate initiatives. Because you're already a little late, you quickly run up the stairs to the second floor and plop down on one of the last chairs. The meeting is great and you go home satisfied.

It may well be that you didn't notice all evening that wheelchair users weren't able to attend the meeting. Because your perspective as a non-disabled person meant that you barely noticed the stairs.
This has nothing to do with you being a bad person. It has to do with the fact that our society is so hostile (ableist) towards disabled people that we, as non-disabled people, don't learn to keep the needs of disabled people in mind.

Even if we don't do it on purpose, ignoring people with disabilities and their needs is harmful: it perpetuates social inequalities and prevents disabled people from participating.

Even if we don't do it on purpose, ignoring people with disabilities and their needs is harmful: it perpetuates social inequalities and prevents disabled people from participating.

Other examples of dominant behavior are, for example:

• more speaking time, so that the perspective of privileged people is given more space and is heard more,

• do not concern themselves with their own privileges,

• hold the meeting in a café and not think that poor people will be excluded as a result,

• do not educate themselves about oppression and therefore do not recognize it,

• only ask people of color in the movement for their opinion when it comes to racism,

• do not take on any care work and leave it to the FLINTA* people.
  As a result, they become exhausted and are less able to participate in processes
  that interest them or in which decisions are made.

Unconsciously dominant

Because we have learned these behaviors and thought patterns so early on as the privileged ones, we are usually not aware that we are keeping others down with this behavior.
If we are asked about our dominant behavior, we may feel guilty and personally attacked. We see ourselves as social people and can't even imagine that we are behaving dominantly.
It is important that we take dominant behavior away from the personal level and see that it has to do with the structures in society. We live in a society that is based on many types of oppression. And which is permeated by many discriminatory ideologies. These ideologies have influenced our culture for many centuries and can be found everywhere in society: In school textbooks and curricula, in television programs and newspaper reports, and in the way society or certain groups are portrayed there. We absorb them unconsciously. Just like we learn dominant behavior unconsciously. For example, because we learn it from our parents or teachers.

Justification reflex

If someone tells you that your behavior was dominant, your brain may quickly start looking for justifications. Because you feel ashamed, guilty or it is not compatible with your self-image to be dominant:
"I can't be sexist, I've read x books about sexism"
"I don't feel like a man, I'm a feminist ... ".
"I can't be racist, my best friend is PoC" (term explained in more detail in this article).
"I can't be ableist, my mother is in a wheelchair".

Yes, we can. We can still behave in a dominant way, and quite unintentionally. Because reading about or observing discrimination and oppression is simply not the same as experiencing it ourselves. In "Privileged people often simply know too little about oppression", we explain in more detail why this is the case. Let's first look at the consequences of dominant behavior.

Consequences of dominant behavior:

With dominant behavior, privileged people unconsciously ensure that people from oppressed groups are prevented from participating and that their experiences are not heard. This perpetuates social and economic inequalities in society.

In groups, dominant behavior leads to people from oppressed groups not feeling safe, not being heard and not being able to contribute in a way that meets their needs and abilities. As a result, they often disappear from the group or movement after a while in frustration.
To ensure that this is no longer the case, we want to look at dominant behavior. To recognize it, talk about it and get rid of it.