Becoming an Ally to the Gender-Expansive Child by Anna Bianchi

Author:Anna Bianchi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784503055
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Published: 2017-11-02T04:00:00+00:00

Self-knowledge: Why is it important to you as an ally?

Self-knowledge leads to agency

Self-knowledge, in my view, is one of the greatest assets we have as allies to our gender-expansive kids. It enables us, over time, to discern the mark of the Matrix in our minds. To have knowledge about ourselves – why we think and behave as we do, what values matter to us, what our shortcomings are, what we’re prepared to stand for or against, what we resist and what we welcome – creates meaning for us. And human beings are meaning-making creatures. Self-knowledge also creates the possibility of an empowered life. This is because substantial self-knowledge leads to what developmental psychologists refer to as ‘agency’: the capacity to influence what happens to us. Agency arises out of taking responsibility for our lives and exercising choice to improve it. It means learning to tell ourselves the truth. This might translate into a concerted effort to curb our social drinking, or to arrange a meeting with our bank manager, or to disclose to our partner feelings we haven’t shared with them before. Agency means being proactive in your own life.

Children have very little true agency. Their reality is frequently denied and they often suffer significantly as a result of their low rank. This renders them highly vulnerable, and dependent, on the adults around them – sometimes with tragic consequences. We do well to imaginatively put ourselves in the shoes of children as often as possible. So a child-inclusive parent or caregiver who has a strong degree of agency, undoubtedly, is a force to be reckoned with as an empowered ally. In a child’s mind, they are a giant – a giant they can shelter behind and depend on to shield and protect them. This is a bulletproof protective factor in the psyche of any child.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.