Tag: gifset

greyshadowquestionsbeing:

lamardeuse:

gravedelight:

[►]

this is the best most concise takedown of safe space critics I’ve ever seen

“Safe space“ did not originate with the “LGBT communities”. It originated in the early days of social psychology (often credit is given to Kurt Lewin, a great Jewish German-American behaviourist who did a lot of work in group dynamics that is still used today) as a space with explicit rules of confidentiality and freedom of judgement *and* to be a place that allowed people to mention concerns, be frank and challenge others, and discuss strategies of change without fear of condemnation or being thrown out.

It was popularized in the women’s liberation and gay liberation groups who brought in that the explicit rules would also include that sexist and/or homophobic behaviour would be pulled up on and challenged and much of today’s use of safe space comes through that as well, but it’s origins in psychology and group dynamics work are important – it shows how it works and why these things are important – as is remembering that safe spaces weren’t really about silencing ideas but giving a protected space where they could be aired and dealt with and those using it otherwise is either making up bogeymen of ‘the snowflakes’ or aren’t really using safe spaces in either the liberation or psychological sense.