OUR LARGEST PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS

A global public health crisis exists that isn’t caused by a virus. Polarization, hate, and fear are driving an increase in violence that undermines our human values. Normal interactions are increasingly resulting in violent behavior because people become angry or fearful. Examples are abuse of flight attendants and medical professionals and violent reactions to small mistakes strangers make. Understandably, we wonder what is happening.

While working with intimate partner abuse victims, they frequently asked, “Why does my partner hurt me?” Answering that question furthered their recovery. However, assisting them led me to ask a deeper question, one that goes beyond seeing their abuse as an individual problem. Is there something culturally that contributes to intimate partner abuse as well as other forms of violence and oppression? ??

NASW-WI’s Diversity Book Club selection this year, The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee[i], was apropos for these times. Wendy Volz Daniels led us in wonderful discussions, in one of which we brainstormed individual ways we can encourage justice and discourage the fears that lead to separation and polarization. I decided then to write this newsletter article.

Dominator-oriented Social Organization

McGhee’s book resonated with my research on the roots of violence and oppression. She traced our country’s history dueling between competing ideas about power and equality. Its foundations were built on compromises that institutionalized imbalances of power. We’re still struggling to right the injustice this created racially, but our nation continues to repeat behavior that conflicts with our stated democratic principles of equality and justice. She identifies the ways in which injustice hurts everyone, though that is often hidden behind other explanations.

Awareness of what informed our institutions in the past helps us not repeat history. This is not about shaming us for our ancestors’ choices, but about learning from them and building a better future for everyone. ???

Riane Eisler’s research[ii] uncovers the beliefs and behavior of both Dominator and Partnership societies, as she calls them. Using her information, I identified four domination assumptions that intimate partner abusers mirrored and found that they also underlie all forms of oppression. They are:

1. There is only so much power or success available, so you have to protect yours.
2. Differences are a threat, whether they be opinions, thoughts, feelings, gender, or skin color.
3. Power comes from power over others.
4. Some people have greater worth.

Political leaders throughout our history have used these assumptions to increase their power by creating fear and distrust among their constituents. There has always been a group of people who were villainized and oppressed in our country, beginning with Native Americans and African Americans. Immigrants from other countries historically have been viewed through the domination lens, whether it was the Irish, Italians, eastern Europeans, Spanish, Mexican, or Asians.?

McGhee’s quote[iii], “you're the other until there is another” shows what happens. As one immigrant group becomes assimilated, another group replaces them as “other.” We’re now seeing immigrants assigned the “other” status. And all along, Blacks and Native people continue to struggle against discrimination. ?

We all have been influenced by beliefs and prejudices that permit domination and abuse. Socialization begins young and is inhaled like the air we breathe. Our perceptions can be affected, even when we do not endorse oppression. We may be seduced into seeing domination assumptions as normal. Examples:

• We may unconsciously view males as assertive but females as nasty when their behavior is similar.
• Many believe war is unavoidable, part of the human condition.

Partnership Assumptions Underlie Caring and Respect

We’ve always had Partnership values[iv] weaving throughout our family and cultural socialization, though they often become relegated to secondary status. Partnership beliefs include:

1. Power is infinite and comes from within.
2. A diversity of people and views empower us in finding effective solutions.
3. Power is shared and used to empower others even when there are hierarchies of responsibility.
4. All have inherent worth.

Eisler’s research indicates that when Partnership values prevail, people enjoy a higher quality of life.[v] Many religious institutions hold these to be sacred. Christianity’s birth followed the teachings of Jesus, which rejected the secondary status of women and elevated values that have often been seen as “feminine.” Business researchers show evidence of their efficacy with large companies.

Despite evidence or good intentions, domination values often color cultural institutions. Early Christian teachings became corrupted by domination assumptions that elevated males over females. Partnership values underlie our democratic institutions and yet we see how those have been compromised.

Call to Action

None of us are immune to the Domination worldview. Personal and institutional beliefs often contradict themselves. Personal and institutional examples abound:

• Many say “boys will be boys” when they fight, as if fighting is inherently normal and natural for one gender.
• Religious people and organizations who espouse values of respect, humility, and love sometimes allow hate and rejection to overrule them when someone doesn’t share their beliefs.
• Fear of the “other” drives some citizens to react with violence to differences or mistakes.

George Orwell coined the term “doublethink”[vi] to describe holding opposing beliefs without being aware of contradictions. Acknowledging any conflicts in our beliefs frees us to live from ones that promote non-authoritarian interactions and institutions.?

Examples of things you can do to shift our culture:

• Examine yourself for contradictory values and beliefs.
• Make friends with fear or mistrust you feel and examine how to change it. ?
• Work on self-confidence, insurance against feeling threatened; this is not the same thing as arrogance.
• Be curious about implicit bias you have (we all do).
• Release the need to be right.
• Accept differences as normal.
• Ask about why others think the way they do without judgment.?
• Search for common interests and solutions.
• Communicate respectfully when you disagree.
• Encourage friends and family to disagree without attacking others’ worth.
• Promote partnership values, such as mutual respect, pay equity, care-giving, power sharing, diversity, relationship cultivation, and ecological care.

Solutions to the public health crisis of violence and oppression will come from us. Our efforts can uproot the acceptance of domination beliefs and behaviors, thus reducing and preventing all forms of violence and oppression. ?

[i] Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, Heather McGhee (New York: One World, 2021)

[ii] The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future, Riane Eisler (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1987)

[iii] The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, Heather McGhee (New York: One World, 2021)

[iv] The Power of Partnership: Seven Relationships that Will Change Your Life, Riane Eisler (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2002)

[v] https://rianeeisler.com/partnership-101/#4 Eisler delves into what affects our quality of life.

[vi] 1984, George Orwell (New York: American Library, 1961, 1977)