Pedagogica: Speaking of Euroamerican Men

Recently we were trying to change the way we talk in our office. A number of us, both women and men, have had a lifelong habit of saying, "You guys," "Us guys," and "Those guys," when talking about a mixed-gender group become necessary. Besides, some of our parents told us, "In little things is perfection."

We've also been working on our hemispheric sensitivity by talking about “US Americans” instead of just “Americans” or using “US” as an adjective as well as a noun, as in “US business traveler” which seems to have some grammatical precedent. In this case our resident neologist team member, cleverly proposed "United Statesians" and was rewarded with a flurry of paper wads. We did, however, finally decide to follow this Spanish pattern of estadouensenes and chose “USians.”

"EURO-AMERICAN MEN" OUR NEXT CHALLENGE: Our next challenge will be to replace "white males" with "Euroamerican men." Though this sounds like a change in personnel, it is not. It has to do with respect. On the grammatical level, only zoologists are appropriately licensed to use “males” as a noun. The rest of us, personnel specialists, journalists, and politicos alike, should be encouraged to talk about "men." This goes for the term "females," as well. Saying, "There's a group of females in the courtyard," conjures up images of primates grooming each other for lice. It's disrespectful. So, we insist on honoring "men" as well as "women."

Because "European-American men" is a bit of a mouthful. we're aiming at "Euroamerican men” for starters – and we’re open to better suggestions. "Euroamerican men” is a political statement, not a racial or ethnic one. The word denotes a vast diversity of men of wildly different shades of complexion coming at some point in their background from European ancestors who originated somewhere between Iceland and Archangelsk. These men now live and work in the USA. and are a significant element in what we have long called the "traditional workforce."

We do not include groups such as African-Americans or Hispanics, gay men who are out of the closet, men with disabilities, etc., any of whom can be lighter or darker than some of us or may have some ancestors who originated in similar places. Because of peculiarities of US history, their experience of being men in this society is different, and they have been long targeted by certain forms of discrimination. We are talking, rather, about the men who today are targeted because they are not targeted, men who are rarely the subject of entitlements because they are assumed to be entitled.

A CONSCIOUS VOICE: It's time for these Euroamerican men not only to have a new name, but a conscious voice in the diversity effort. Until now, the Euroamerican man can be said to have had an unconscious voice in most if not all US workplaces because the culture of such places was assumed to be shaped with him in mind. But now the workplace culture speaks less and less in his favor. It is also worth considering that much workplace culture, though designed by and for the traditional worker, was never in that worker's best interest. All too many working men were and still are "disposable" in the interests of a few.  

Like all cultures, workplace culture is a system of rules, values, attitudes, and procedures intended to help those in it to survive and thrive. Today many organizations are consciously trying to change their culture so that it serves the real demographics of the workforce. This is an important and necessary step not only if fairness is to be served, but also so that we can build strong organizations with levels of productivity that can reconstitute a viable economy for all.

OUT WITH "BACKLASH!": The culture of the culture change effort, however, can be very hostile to Euroamerican men. If they fail to find a conscious voice in the change effort, there are two possibilities: 1) a culture will emerge that doesn't serve their needs, or, more likely, 2) they will be driven to resist change by their unconscious cultural voice. This is what is happening in many places today. Some people call it "backlash." We call it failing to deal with a group of human beings in such a way that we listen to their concerns, needs, aspirations and fears. The term "backlash" is about as useful as racial slurs or name-calling when it comes to doing diversity professionally. We are talking about people whose culture and environment is being changed and who are experiencing the natural and normal resistance to this which most groups experience.

Cultural self-knowledge is usually hard to come by. Diversity professionals will be aware that cultural dynamics make it extremely difficult for members of a macroculture or "dominant group" to reflect on their own culture. Outsiders know them better than they know themselves. Today Euromerican men are in the process of becoming a statistical minority in many workplaces and in the general workforce demographics. In raw numbers, despite attempts to scare traditional managers, this transformation, as well as the sharing of power, will actually take place over the next couple of decades.

What is significant, however, is that the combination of Affirmative Action and EEO efforts, anti-harassment training, and other diversity efforts are creating a minority mentality among many Euroamericans right now. This is because when it comes to social realities like bias, perception is reality. Therefore, diversity specialists must know how to deal with Euroamerican men in terms of their beleaguered and emerging minority consciousness. Those who simply cry "backlash" will create more of it.

Recently, we moderated a diversity panel for a large national' organization. We asked one of the panelists to share with the audience of several hundred his experience of being a heterosexual Euroamerican man today. What had changed for him in recent years in his own consciousness and around him? What were his feelings, expectations, challenges, and concerns? He did this well, and in our perception rather mildly. However, numerous discussion groups that met after the panel expressed a range of reactions from confusion, "What's he doing up there? Isn't this a diversity program?" to rage, that he dared to feel and say what he felt and said. It seemed that for many he lacked both a valid identity and a legitimate voice.

Driven by the unconscious voice of the past, disenfranchised Euroamerican men are easy targets for white-supremacist thinking and are ripe for individual aggression and group as well as self-directed violence. A seat on the diversity council and a conscious voice in the diversity effort encourage self-knowledge and intelligent participation in the creation of a new culture.