Reflecting on My Social Location: Exploring Privilege and Oppression

General Instructions: When we are aware of our own identities, and our own experiences of privilege and oppression, we are more aware of ourselves, and better able to think about how these power structures effect our clients. You are going to write a personal essay, using your own experiences and the course material to reflect on your own social location.

In the first class you were asked to complete the Power Flower Exercise for yourself filing in the outer petals with aspects of identity that are dominant or the norm in society and the inside petals for what is your own reality. You will use this exercise as a base, however, please note that:

For this assignment, you will focus on only these aspects of identity: Race, sex, gender, class, sexual orientation, ability, religion or age.

From these dimensions, choose one aspect of your identity where your petals match (you experience privilege) and one dimension on which your petals do not match (you are likely to experience disadvantage or oppression) to complete the following steps:

Introduction: You will provide an introduction to your essay. Where you will state what you are going to be analyzing in the body of the essay.

In the body of the essay, you will:

Aspect of the dimensions above to discuss issues of oppression.

1. You will include a definition/explanation of the power relation that you are talking about (for example, if you choose sex, you have to provide a definition of sexism).
2. You will provide two (2) examples on what it means to be disadvantaged (oppressed) on that social dimension.
3. Using your examples, you will define and apply the following concepts: stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination to your analysis

1. You will include a definition/explanation of the power relation that you are talking about (for example, if you chose sexual orientation you will define heteronormativity or heterosexism).
2. You will provide two (2) examples on what it means to be privileged (having unearned advantages).

As a conclusion:

You will explain why it is useful to acknowledge our privilege and oppression when working or studying with people who are different from us.

• You must provide at least two (2) references in APA format. These references can include class slides, readings or other academic sources.

• Please do not use online dictionaries or non-academic sources for definitions. You must use material from your readings, PowerPoints or other academic sources.
• The answers should be written double-space, 12 point font (Times New Roman) 1-inch margins on all sides, using proper paragraphs.
• The assignment should be between 4-5 pages long (excluding the title page and the reference page).
• If the assignment is late, there is a 10% penalty per day for a maximum of five (5) days as per Sheridan policy.
• Any indication of plagiarism will be strongly penalized.
• Standard Writing and APA Rubrics apply where marks will be deducted from the assignment value.
• Label your file submission in such a way as to include your name ((For example, SaraGordon_SocialLocation.docx).