Category: ‘Life Paradigms’ Blog
Lesbos
It all was experienced this spring. I write about my very personal perspective on Lesbos island first now, during waning summer – as other things needed to be experienced and seen to meanwhile. Very different things, like also very different angles of nature-culture-crisis-beauty brought richness to my month-long stay in Greece…
What I went for, how I arrived
Oh, of course! I forget you need a bit of background facts (cause otherwise I’d jump straight to cores and nuances, well..):
Five first days on my own, Greek people and places have always won my heart, when I entered my hotel room I cried – so happy it felt. I think it was the old beautiful man from the reception – after I said who I am – he just said “I know” with his incredible low masculine voice (I soften immediately…)
After that I joined an organization dedicated to rescuing refugee boats from Aegean Sea once they manage to reach European waters.
And to giving medical care and translation in Moria Camp.
And to supporting refugee families living in Kara Tepe camp, waiting for ‘green light’ to be transferred elsewhere in Greece/wider Europe to try building often destroyed lives from scratch: we took care of washing service and children activities.
Who inspired me
My first inspiration and inner drive to go to Greece and help was my Danish friends that were there in 2015. After 3 years, when – after turbulences and the 180° shift in life direction – I had a window open for a longer travel during the winter, it suddenly came to me that now is the Time: I dropped my exotic plans and bought a ticket to Lesbos.
These Danish friends are since then continuing their artistic activism in form of Other Story – a project giving voices to real people that carry deep stories in transition.
I can say it has been the weirdest job I’ve ever had
My week could look like that (4+2+1=7 …and a bit of extra moments stolen from time):
4 night shifts of boat spotting on Katia Hill, always with a partner, staring at the empty, dark Aegean Sea in case a refugee boat arrives and needs help. Life stories. Wind. Weird aliveness. Doubt. Happiness. One time real anger – expressed -> transformative, leading to the deepest lucid dream I’ve ever had in my life.
2 day shifts in Kara Tepe camp with refugee children activities.
1 day off. Overall richness. Incredible amount of contrasts.
Children in the Kara Tepe camp were sweet and rough, curious, playing eagerly, learning eagerly, fighting eagerly. We had a language barrier, which – like with love encounters across borders – flipped us to another level of presence.
The second and last boat landing that I took part in. Early morning, me and another volunteer needed to come back, we forgot some equipment on the boat. I told her I needed to stay a bit longer on my own, not coming back to the house. Abandonded life jackets and various things one apparently grabs for a survivor’s night. 44 people came with this boat. It’s an ‘everyday life’ situation. **) Aegean Boat Report provides official reports on refugee boats arriving on Greek islands, day after day
The organization I joined had leadership that I trusted, that inspired me, their ethics, overview and there-for-you attitude towards so many people they needed to interface with! Here during boat and rescue training.
I think leaders are so important, cause volunteers are almost by default a treasure. They come cause they have something important stirring on their heart. Leaders set the tone, inspire and influence by leading by example. That’s what I experienced through them and feel very grateful for. They provided fun, depth and hope. That’s a lot to receive from someone working so hard voluntarily!
…and off times, with funny, wonderful people
and old Greek restaurant I kept coming back to…here with a friend
here by my favourite cafe and concert spot ‘Bobiras’
“Idyllic” Lesbos – a new form of deep tourism
So much on one little island! All this beauty and weird contrasts all over street corners and nature makes Lesbos now, I think, an extremely rich and interesting place to be, work and live for a while or longer. International culture of very diverse people from all over the world
…on a mission to help,
experience real life in transition,
“(re)humanize” stories:
stories heard from media,
stories incomplete,
stories distorted by stereotypes or lack of knowledge
Oh, speechless now ! : I am still in the process of creating this blog (unpublished)…and I just heard the breath-taking news that these NGO leaders were arrested by Greek Police!
https://www.facebook.com/sean.binder.39?ref=br_rs
https://www.facebook.com/ioanna.sch/posts/10216893874969802
https://www.facebook.com/hahmad1996/posts/10214125541505437
the whole PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE cycle
From scary past stories, to positive present experience to heartbreaking news of the future
(that is happening now)
… Lesbos stories from 2015 :
…that there’s boats with scared, life-risking refugees flooding to the shores of Lesbos from all possible sides, while there’s too few NGOs and almost the whole humanitarian burden lies in hands of independent volunteers
…that NGOs that are there often compete instead of collaborating with each other
…that refugees freeze, cause it’s winter and there’s bottomless need for warm clothes and especially shoes…never enough for all
Great generalisation, I knew it – glued together from random stories and stereotypes – therefore I needed to see with my own eyes. But I WAS prepared… to have a deeply transformative experience, a wake-up call, a sort of close confrontation with tough reality that is far from the world I got used to experiencing in everyday Denmark.
So I was scared to go. Yet ready to be skaken-awaken! The winter was piercing cold in Copenhagen on departure.
But my experience on Lesbos 2018 was surprisingly positive. It gave hope more than it took away hope.
my Lesbos story from 2018 was :
…tourism deteriorated – as my taxi driver was so bitter about – but a new „humanitarian” tourism blossomed, creating extremely rich, unique on the island that I have not experience any other place
…there is so many different NGOs right now helping with boat rescue, education, collaborative arts, medical and psychological help
…thanks to collective international efforts, huge warehouses with clothes and all other stuff for distribution was so full that we didnt know what to do with all that
…I was so impressed by my leaders of an organization I volunteered for. Professional, generous, considerate with huge overview and thorough in providing both lifeguard- first help- and ethical approach-training even to volunteers that were staying for merely 3 weeks. Leaders also working voluntarily, staying over a year
…I was impressed and touched by the level of collaboration of different groups and institutions how they coexisted with respect towards each other even though they had different interests and roles to fulfill. And here I do not only mean different NGOs exchanging knowledge, support, organizing joint trainings. I saw – and it was especially visible during boat-landing – where NGOs, police and official medicals from Lesbos were taking action together
So I was very surprised hearing a couple of weeks ago that my NGO leaders were arrested! Suddenly humanitarian help became criminalized.
I don’t know what to do or say.
Besides that I just need to share this. And I know they are innocent. I was there.
… and how can I say this in the best way?:
that the whole refugee crisis is so complex that it is unfair to point fingers at any party, actually, without deep (and dynamic!) investigation.
I mean it. I feel very strong about that.
I was impressed by the Greek police, I was impressed by doctors that were coming when we called cause there were 2 deeply pregnant women in terrible condition with advanced hypothermia. They came to save lives even though they never signed up for that: their mission was service to people on Lesbos, suddenly there is thousands more. And capacity of hospitals and other resources the same.
Yes, I was there – together with many others – to help people in need, basic instinct, like I imagine doctors do, human-to-human emergency finds no discrimination!
I do not have a straight answer to streaming of people in need to Europe.
But I know that nothing is lost in nature and everyone and everything leaves a trace.
Cause elements are (inter)connected…
Fear is contageous. But so is love.
on pendulums, metamodernism, art and “opening” abandonded places
one…two…three…go!…back…
A two-hour sleep before my early departure to Massa in Italy gave me a nightmare: being pushed&pulled by a man, bodily, not getting really hurt, but tossed around to state of subtle, but constant unrest, alertness (of danger) that is never to stop – all that is called ‘violence’ – I never knew before – until I felt it vividly in this subconscious world.
After landing in Pisa, I heard from a he-host that what I booked and paid for is actually a tent – and not a double-room bed. I felt lonely. I cancelled with despair. I lost some money. I dropped Massa …and bought a “blind destination” ticket to Lucca. It felt good…as if being finally freed from that nightmare that already started in my sleep before leaving pre-sunrise Copenhagen.
After some hours of couch-surfing search and going through charming Italian streets, I felt lonely and tired (or too old for such a lifestyle?) – as if I’ve exhausted my magic bubble – that I used to create by daring to trust the unknown (places, random encounters).
Can it be – I thought – that higher self-esteem combined with more craving for stability is actually a sabotage to experiencing life? Am I less able to open a portable door* than before when youth and confusion made me blindly play with fire?
*have you read “Kafka on the shore”? ‘Portable door’ has lived in me as a unique concept, but Murakami (via Nakata’s stone) inspired me to put words on the inexpressible…and find the Word
Now my heightened awareness of steps and motivations… and what I want
Now having all more figured out
Now… less randomness. more direction. and “filtering”. less waste
Now afraid of dark sides of good development
Suddenly I stopped, walked left passing a gate of art – something art {art as the only saviour of ‘limbo’ situation, art the lessest evil}.
An exhibition-talk about architecture …and pendulums. Pendulums! – the recent greatest totem in my inspiration pool. Pendulum-Sisters Academy. Pendulum-Metamodernism*. Pendulum-meaning-to-be.
*have you heard and thought deeper about Metamodernism?
there they explain the metamodernism concept through the ‘pendulum’ metaphor. Metamodernism was “thaught” to me by my student in Sisters Academy. It was a relieving kind of revelation – after feeling quite misplaced wherever I thought deeper about postmodernism, it suddenly felt home, relevant. Metamodernism is me. Postmodernism is not (the more you get the pendulum image, he more you’ll also forgive this simplification 🙂 ).
“
The use of the prefix meta here derives from Plato’s metaxis, describing an oscillation and simultaneity between and beyond diametrically opposed poles. (…)
As Vermeulen and van den Akker put it, metamodernism’s oscillation should not be thought of as a balance; “rather, it is a pendulum swinging between 2, 3, 5, 10, innumerable poles. Each time the metamodern enthusiasm swings toward fanaticism, gravity pulls it back toward irony; the moment its irony sways toward apathy, gravity pulls it back toward enthusiasm.”
“
Riccardo is a collector of ancient to modern pendulums. They used to be used for construction/architecture, medicine and art. And much more, but it requires a more nerdy insight or more innocent imagination. I am really looking forward to visiting his cellar in Pisa…
These engineers/artists took me for an authentic dinner in Lucca and then on the road towards Pisa…the crooked tower is adorable I would say only in the night- enchanting street music for almost non-audience, illuminated architecture, hoses spraying sun-tired grass. That was my second – after 8 years – and most unexpected couch-surfing experience.
Spaghetti Carbonara lunch at home…over which I hear from Guido about an old special building in Pisa once upon a time squatted by artists that broke in and decided to do art there. I decide to go for a mediation event.
Theatro Rossi Aperto …
I enter and there’s a theatre performance by elementary school – ‘they really wanted to do it!’ – I hear. So they are welcome to do it at Theatro Rossi Aperto. I am welcome. I don’t have to pay cause it already started a half an hour ago. I am so “taken” by those sincere funny, unproffessional brilliant kids
…and the context, cause the theatre space is amazing! Old, ghostly, aesthetics of abandonment and revival through rebellious souls with visions and hundreds of voluntary work.
They don’t have much, but they have abundance!
That is what – along with serendipity in Lucca, pendulums and passionate kids occupying this occupied theatre – bring me straight back on track – which I have feared I had lost.
I receive a kind reminder that:
magic is not lost with age and direction
portable door can open anytime
doing things purposelessly + with no guarantees is the art of being
That busy generous man gave me and one italian a private guided tour throug the upper levels and ceilings of Theatro Rossi. I learned the theatre was soooo old. It has been closed and abandonded for more than 40 years. It was activated 6 years ago by squatters that do this amazing job and are richly ignored by local authorities of Pisa and richly recognized by regional Toscanian authorities. And by those kids… And my me and many more.
This Lucca -> Pisa experience revived me big time and reminded of:
~ years of performance&activism work with Club de la Faye and how extremely transformative our efforts have been for the few… or more
~ abandonded places with spirit, craving to be given love and attention… then the magic happens (or portable door can open)
~ how many invisible individual and collective burning initiatives and unmeasurable treasures there exist!
~ there’s something extremely important with my alternative ways of being…and NOW is the time to continue and bear fruits instead of doubting…
The man from the “squatted” theatre said something I won’t forget: that the mission is not to have squatted Theatro Rossi. But to open Theatro Rossi (Aperto means ‘open’ in Italian).
Thank you. Tomorrow I’m leaving Pisa to go to Elba island with my mother. I can hear her calm breath falling asleep – live two meters away – that experience only happens 3 times a year. I embrace…
Trash, my treasure
Min kære ven,
jeg har samlet lidt vejledning til hvordan du sorterer i Københavns Kommunen. Det vil gøre mig og miljøet så saftigt glad hvis du starter på at sortere derhjemme/i din institution. Det hele sorterings infastruktur har længe været klar i din gård – just start co-playing with me!
Og nej, sorterede skrald bliver IKKE blandet sammen alligevel til sidst. Det er en dårlig myte der for nogle mennesker er en undskyldning for overspringshandling.
{**vær sød og tålmodig med mit dansk, jeg har ikke overskud til sprogelig perfektionisme i den sag her.
Billederne og tekst kommer fra offentlige sider}
BIOAFFALD/KOMPOST
– et nyhed der bruger og ikke brænder madrester. Hånd i hånd med ‘Stop Mad Spild’ kampagnen og så smager folke køkken endnu bedre –
PLAST (nu hård plast og ren blød plast kan blendes)
METAL (Så ren skal METAL være: ligesom PLAST)
PAP
Papir og pap må ikke blive blandet.
PAPIR
ARC {amager resource center} er en integreret del af byens kredsløb. De omdanner affald til energi, næringstoffer og nye materialer.
Jeg er lige ved at “indrette” to køkkener med affaldsorterings system. Også dit? Det er en tjeneste.
Og her* underviser jeg folk i ‘hvad går hvor?’ i den svenske context (brug de guidelines ikke i Danmark men du kan spørge mig, jeg ved meget).
Og min kjole er også “recyckled”…
*Sisters Academy, Malmo 2015
Og der er mange kreative projekter inspirerede og fødrede af TRASH:
Guldminen
Vasbygade Genbrugsstation huser Guldminen, som er et laboratorium, for udvikling af nye måder at genbruge, upcycle, reparere, redesigne og distribuere udvalgte genbrugsmaterialer.
Afleverer du dit sortere affald på Vasbygade Genbrugsstation, kan det indgå i Guldminens arbejde for direkte anvendelse og nytænkning af ressourcerne via direkte genbrug som et alternativ til en tung genanvendelses proces.
interactive frames, labels and mirrors
I want to write, talk and create interactive experiments about love and sexuality. And I have also. For many years. And do you know what makes me now write, talk and experiment more?
Finding my form of expression. The right frame to relax and unfold in. Do you recognize? Now for example I need a good song in my ears…just to stay on the track of inspiration.
** Gabriel Yared “Betty Blue”
Now retracking again from musical digressions.
So I’ve long been self-exploring and collecting others’ stories on love and sexuality. During casual talks, formal settings like conferences, workshops, or improvised – during spontaneous interviews and in art contexts.
I’ve gathered plenty of stories, most of them unshared – probably because there’s too little of the last kind of sharing: the improvised, unpolished. Just us and our friend “here and now”. I must admit that that is also what opens my body and mind the most – using time on acting and not on planning.
I want to write about interactive frames, labels and mirrors.
** I painted those walls blue and peach before I saw “Betty Blue”. The resemblance hit me strongly.
There were three of us in the room. Amber, Dreamcatcher and (w)Hole – in my tableaux in Sisters Academy.
She calls herself ‘asexual’.
He is very sexual and in a relationship with an ‘asexual’ woman.
Me in between and not a big fan of labels, still using them a lot… and breaking them again.
Recently for the first time I’ve met a person that identifies herself as ‘asexual’. And I realized that she could help me understand my own sexuality.
But most of all I realized that labels are tricksters that nevertheless serve us well… to both connect and disconnect from people.
So we gathered.
We shared stories and experiences.
… without a clear form or purpose, only learning by doing. There unexpected treasures surface – I know that, I’ve tried that many times, I became really good at that (but how the hell will I explain such a way of working in a job application? – forgive another digression, but I really want to work with people that understand and treasure this!).
Learning and sharing in the art context – that’s my answer. That’s also what happened this time. And that’s the foundation for this blog post: sharing different embodied perspectives to understand ourselves better through others. The topic was love and sexuality. But as any deepening process, it often turns out that it’s also about something completely different.
I’m inviting you to more feel than analyze. This is not a structured journalism. Find your personal red thread in what makes you tick.
I find it in our words and voices, that’s why I quote a lot, more than I comment.
when one is “asexual”
Me: She opened a window to a completely new (and rich!) world for me, a world different from the one I had been taking for granted – and that my interests and self-development have been – to a great extent – based on. To be gradually becoming a confident and conscious sexual being – for health, for wholeness, as a powerful form of communication. I have met people (He) that naturally are more sexually open. I have not met many that do not have such interest (She) and whose life seems so rich anyway.
She: “It’s a bit strange to live in the world where people put so much importance to sexuality, it’s a bit mysterious to me.”
We talked about relationships. And relationship to oneself.
She: “I’ve only had one relationship. I don’t really want to be in a couple with someone, cause I perfectly know that most of the people are not asexual. If someone is very sexual I don’t want to force myself just to please a person, so it’s better for a person to have an opportunity to go with other people.”
Her friends were different. She connects with people on so many deep levels. She experiences their focuses and priorities without judgement. More with a pinch of wonder.
She: “It wasn’t that I was disgusted. {Just} when I was thinking about sex, it was as if something that didn’t concern me, it was alien.”
when one that is very sexual is in a romantic relationship with an asexual person…
When He told me, I was instantly amazed, cause it was somehow breaking my conviction: that it’s mainly open and sexual people that are attractive. I was wondering how they handle such a curious constellation and what bonds them. Polyamory may sound like a cliche solution, but what really interests me is how people find creative solutions when romantic visions do not overlap with what is.
He: “It’s an open relationship, polyamorous. It’s not that easy, my partner is not asexual, but almost. She wants to be interested, she wants to be enjoying it, feeling like it, but she don’t.
It’s been like this for almost a year. She’s monogamous, but she realized this winter it might not work out if we continue like this, because I am very sexual. If I have one partner, this person cannot be asexual – it works but it’s not sustainable. So she came up with an idea that we should make an agreement that I can meet others. Even if she doesn’t like it that much, she’s willing to sacrifice that for having a relationship with me. It still works cause we have some rules around it. That is the solution we have now, but it’s not a very sustainable solution after all, cause it’s not what my partner wants. It’s a very strange situation, it’s hard.”
In confrontation with very close people that are very different, one can bring more complexities to generalized concepts… for self understanding.
She: “I get attracted physically to people, but not sexually. Physical and sexual attraction is different – I’m trying to explain to myself.”
being protective, afraid of crossing someone’s boundaries – whose responsibility is that?
She: “Even with friends that I am emotionally connected to, we are not close physically. They do it {touch} with everybody, but not with me.”
Me: I got an insight by talking to them that night. I realized that by protecting people, I potentially disempower them… or sabotage our connection.
[I share sounds, I recommend headphones on]
She: “I feel that very „touchy” people – I didn’t even tell that I am asexual – they sense there is a distance. Sometimes I regret, cause people should continue without trying to adjust themselves to me.”
Me: Having an idea about others and a desire to do good, I can be unconsciously freezing structures that are naturally dynamic. The structure of ‘asexuality’, a temporary label that serves communication – always only in the ‘now’ – needs to be broken all the time, by constantly new ‘nows’. Like that evening: the way I perceived them when they entered my tableaux was so different when I left them goodnight.
He (to Her): “Actually, I’m treating my partner like people treat you.
She is feeling she’s not giving enough, when I’m close to her, cause she doesn’t want that {sexuality} and she feels guilt. And for her not to feel guilty, we agreed that I can see others.
She’s still resenting herself because of that.”
She: “I feel pressure by desire of other people.”
Me: I’ve experienced – on my own skin and through listening to others – that guilt and pressure can be a big turn-off.
I have also experienced that when placed in a frame, where being you as a sensual/sexual being is perceived as a beautiful and valuable thing, can be a great turn-on.
how I read You, how I perceive you read Me…
She: “When a man is very friendly, I am on my guard. I need to adjust.”
Me: I have been, too. Often and for many reasons, which I continuously multiply – the more honest I dare (or am confronted) to be. And you? Why?
She: “It’s about education. We’re used to hear that guys are always ready, sexual, predators. And that girls have to be desirable. Those stereotypes didn’t affect me. But…{still}”
Me: I feel that these stereotypes affected me a lot. But I also realize that some – men, women, and they* – have experienced more than just a potential fed by stories one might heard somewhere out there.
She: “I had bad experiences with some guys, where I had to defend myself, physically, too. That’s why I’m nervous, when a man approaches me. I first sense his intentions. It’s a bit sad. If I was a guy, I’d feel insulted by those stereotypes.”
He: “I feel that curse.”
Me: I feel sad, too. And I believe many people on their life journey feel from time to time, well – cursed…, “thanks” to their various belongings.
I have been curious about today’s sexual education at schools. I have been talking to teenagers and some school teachers in Denmark and Sweden about how they feel about what and how is being “taught”, what is precious, what is missed. I’ve initiated one-to-one interviews based on exchange and created sharing circles about love and sexuality – both in the context of Sisters Academy and Human Library (Menneskebibliotekket). We talked about attraction, gender stereotypes, tantra and relationships. I wrote a bit about that in my post from last year: Between Boys and girls: random important inputs to sexual education
That evening in my room, Dreamcatcher mentioned education too, while we shared inspirations from the exploratory naked massage class at the last Sisters Academy.
He: “In Sweden we also work in {sexual} education by teaching consent. (…) It’s good cause it’ll let people be physical with others without this even leading to something sexual.”
removing „peak moments” from sexual interaction… and what happens then
Me: During classes, workshops, interviews, intimate talks throughout years, I heard and felt it repeatedly: many people – men and women – would intimately connect with others more, if they did not feel pressure/fear that an intimate gesture it will be (mis)read as an inevitable step to sexual intercourse. I have been curious to investigate it more in practice by creating safe frames for sensual interaction where that “end-goal” was not there. The focus was play and curiosity. I invited to such space also in Sisters Academy.
He: “Since the sexual massage class {facilitated by (w)Hole and Untamed}, things have turned around for me pretty much and I am really happy for it. I hadn’t understood it before, cause I always ended up in situations where everybody is having a silent agreement that sex is going to happen and there’s gonna be penetration and orgasms. It’s a total focus. So this was the first time I experienced it without any of these.
That was wonderful.”
labels, my darlings, if I don’t wanna kill you, what do I then do to you?
She: “It’s hard to be asexual in the world that is so sexual. Its very strange, its a bit oppressive sometimes.”
Me: I felt that what She needs is to explore more and find her triggers. I also felt that both word ‘ asexual’ and ‘sexual’ might be a bit exaggerated. And He mentioned it, too.
He: “Half of sexuality that exists out in the society is made-up, cause it is build on ideas that are impossible. Well, it might be possible but it’d hurt more then it’d help. A lot of it is unrealistic, we put a lot of fantasy into that.”
And She felt the workings of that label vividly in her interactions with people.
She: “I think that ‘asexual’ is a scary word, cause people take me as if I didn’t want to be touched.”
He (to She): “If there was (another) word, it would help you. A label ‘asexual’ is confusing you, even if you know exactly what you are experiencing.”
And then Me and He gave She a mission. To find a man in Sisters Academy she feels both attraction and trust for… and to ask him for a favour, for example like that: “I really want to explore my sensuality. Will you be interested in helping me getting to know myself better, in interaction, through touch, each responsible for own boundaries?
After weeks I was honoured to hear from her that she fulfilled her mission with help of a man she met in Sisters Academy. Feeling ‘asexual’ transformed again and now she would add much more depth to her sharing here.
what is your trigger, what do you really want?
Me: A very essential question came to me recently…and was directed at myself:
„If I am so interested in tantra and bdsm, why don’t I have a long-term partner/lover and a lot of sex as everyday practice? Is it because what I’m really interested in is something else?”
It seemed paradoxical to me. I needed an(other) “mirror”.
Meeting her, this „asexual” woman, unexpectedly opened a lot of new doors to a deeper understanding. The search continues, of course, but I saw clearer again why paradoxes have so often made me tick. Paradoxes are golden keys.
She: “I was interested in fetish and I was talking about that to people and people thought I was a fetishist, and for me it was so obvious that I wasn’t. It was for scientific reasons, what I was fascinated by was human psychology. Fetish is a way to understand people on a very deep level. (…)
The best part is when you think you’ve found the roots, then you realize there are still things you need to dig, it’s never ending. Introspection. (…)
Or maybe I’ll one day find that I have a fetish and then I’ll understand why I wasn’t sexual for so many years. I am young.”
Me: I’ve found something. The sexiest and most important question is:
“what is attractive? what is your trigger? Now.“
Thank you. I am continuously finding mine. And I create interactive frames that help us multiply levels of attraction through playfulness, honesty and pealing off layers.
In this, dear, let us drop these labels and play… as equal “opponents”. And as each other’s mirrors, sometimes, too.
I see you more now. I see myself thanks to you.
… to be continued.
* by ‘they’ – only in this sharing and simplified – I refer to people that identify themselves as “fluid” gender identity
Between boys and girls (random, important inputs to sexual education)
For the last years, I have been on a pearl-searching journey. Love and sexuality has been my interest since I remember. So many good and less good games played between people in their intimate relationships. Amazing developments woven together with holding back or confusion. Fear-driven and heart-driven moves. Aspirations based on dreams, philosophies or own projections about how and why others do what they do.
I must admit I’ve been a better collector than practical communicator/interpreter of my findings. So I want to share now – as an initial skeleton built on open questions and reflections that certain experiences and encounters awakened in me.
<”0oo0”>
Searching for love, while learning self-love. Exercising and showing my attractive sides, while longing to show my whole self, meet people from their vulnerable place. Wanting to be in a relationship, at the same time contemplating what/who a relationship should serve and which form it should take. Occasional thoughts about having kids, balanced with doubt, asking why, what drives me, finally trying to find an alternative child.
Meeting people with different ideas and lifestyles, getting curious, getting resistant: where is depth and where escape in monogamy, where is depth and where escape in polyamory? What do women really want? What do men really want? What do women think men want? And vice versa. Can we be together and interact in a way, so that we grow together beyond all those ‘coolness’ games? Can vulnerability be empowering and can honesty not break magic?
<”0oo0”>
“Imagine that…” or “In my perfect world…” are very important mental exercises, I believe. Expressing the most courageous dreams loudly and persistently, while working with what we have – can be a potent starting point before any ‘happiness’ talk.
Jumping in deep-water tantric environments surprisingly changed my life, teaching me something far more precious than any techniques: it namely extended my perception of love and sexuality… as a treasurous communication- and transformation- tool.
As this continuous learning process started to really blossom first in my adulthood – and I suspected it probably also did for many others – with “such a pity!” on my heart, I naturally started to act. I’ve been creating different interactive spaces and workshops, where authentic relating and sensuality are the tools.
My curiosity was also directed towards young people, so I investigated a bit, interviewed some. Where and how do they learn about love and sexuality? What is beautiful, attractive, what is fearful or confusing for them? I was also wondering what sexual education really teaches at schools…
This post is a long (inter)personal story (not scientific findings), with a great potential to awaken some further research or projects that I will gladly hear about and even get involved in.
<ooo00ooo>
The source is 4-fold:
*In spring 2016, I interviewed some teachers in a Swedish school, asking about teenagers and sexual education.
*When in early 2015 I started to serve in Menneskebiblioteket as a human book with two titles: tantra and polyamory, I talked to many adults and youth – both folkeskole and gymnasium – about those topics, life and intimate relationships. I shared my stories and asked them also about their world… and about sexual education.
*Precious insights I got from S, an artist and researcher who facilitates sexual relations groups in Malmo and contributes to further development of sexual education in Swedish schools, including queer, critical perspectives, and analyzing heteronormativity in teaching materials.
*My own life experience and other people’s experiences interpreted by me.
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Love, sexuality and sexes: cultural(?) images, expectations and (self)perceptions
As the Swedish teacher (that taught biology and sexual education) mentioned, in Sweden, there has been a shift in what sexual education focuses on: one must not only learn to say no, but equally important is learning to say yes, listening to one’s “gut feeling”. People often misinterpret each other, so it’s useful to learn how to better read others’ signals.
So it seems that now – to a bigger extent than 30 years ago – lust and desire is a part of curriculum in gymnasia in Sweden.
The teacher mentioned what he showed and not showed to his students as pat of curriculum.
(“Never like the first time” a cartoon
and
“Do you want?” – (film/comic book? – I couldn’t find it) – he couldn’t show it cause the school curator said no 🙂
His reflection was also that teaching sexual education is nothing like any other subject, as one always has to “use” himself/herself. The ‘teacher’ role needs to always extend with something much more personal. During his studies not many fellow-teachers were up for taking this subject, as he said.
He expressed that to be a good sexual education teacher one has to be in a good contact with his/her own sexuality
(“…and I’m more of a theorist, coming from a religious family, where sex was a taboo.”). “And you have to dare to ask questions” – he added. As now it’s also a different world young people are living in, “I should have involved youth themselves in the process of designing a sexual education course last year when I came to teach in a new school”.
That were some of his lessons learned. And what I was the most curious about was:
‘What do u think is the most needed amongst teenagers?’
His answer was: small sharing circles …
{because – he said – they can easily find info about protection and diseases on the net, ungdomsugodning*, etc., but learning about emotions and communication needs to happen face-to-face}
… where young people can open up in trust and together discuss love and sexuality. And especially explore these:
–why do boys and girls do like they do?
-and what do girls and boys really think of each other?
…and topics he found out repeated themselves when he talked to his students:
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1)Girls say that boys have to know better. Boys don’t know that Girls also have to be prepared (lubricated – also emotionally) to have sex.
(and it IS now on the curriculum)
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2)Girls say that boys mainly want sex, but most boys are interested in making it good for girls, but maybe they are just a bit clumsy.
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3)The teacher said that amongst 16 year-olds, maybe 50% already had sex. The interesting thing was that many young people that did not yet have sex seem to think that they are alone, that 90% of others already experienced their first time.
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4)Those that had sex only once often said: “is that it?” – cause they had thought it will be different, better, longer…
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5)Some say that boys gets “high status” when involved in sexual activities, and in terms of girls it’s not so well perceived. So there’s a big difference in being boy and girl when it comes to being a sexual being and expressing it openly.
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A bit on the last point that What the Swedish teacher mentioned, what some teenage girls mentioned and what was mentioned in this video
(spil fra 03:08 min, made in collaboration with Danish ‘Sex og Samfund’, I think) all seem to point to something important.
And pointing maybe not to truth as such, but definitely to some interesting narratives in the society:
Can it be that still today being sexually active with different partners makes men “cool” and women “cheap”?
{I don’t even know how to phrase it – yes, using words is art in itself – to invite critical reflection and not to confirm stereotypes. Let’s share responsibility here, ok?}
http://www.sexfordig.dk/film/seksualitet/?id=1835&vimeo=76428070
Narratives are important, cause they have a power to drive people’s beliefs, actions…and relationships between men and women.
Between boys and girls
In Sisters Academy in Simrishamn 2016, the (w)Hole’s little tableaux filled up with teenagers + new Academy staff.
That afternoon, we created a storytelling circle: 13 teenagers and 5 adults shared their stories and questions about love, sexuality and intimacy.
I also facilitated an ‘Attraction’ workshop there.
Some things that surprised me or fascinated me (how much things developed and stayed the same when I recall my teenage world:
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Some girls expressed that when they go dancing guys often look at them as at sexual objects so they feel pressure of feeding this canon of beauty and sexiness.
{“And girls want to be seen as ‘a whole person’? Or?” – the sexual education teacher asked when I told him that. I don’t remember what I answered. The question sounded so rhetorical to me, that I surprised myself that I hesitated… }
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And some guys said to that: it depends on the intention of coming to a party. Sometimes I am relaxed and want to connect to people. Sometimes “I just want to fuck and kill”.
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And then some girls said that sometimes they also have this energy of “fuck and kill”. But they also said that for boys it is much easier to appear “cool” when expressing interest in sex than it is for girls.
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One girl told me that others at school perceive her as a non-sexual being until one night they saw her lap-dance and were surprised to see this side of her. It seems that people create stereotypes about each other and others’ sexual abilities.
It seemed to me that both sides are tired of playing this confusing game that they actually don’t like to play.
Masculine and Feminine in a woman, Masculine and Feminine in a man…
Recently I repeatedly talked to people – also, but not only, from queer environments – that seemed triggered by operating with notions ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’. For me they are just words abstractly representing certain qualities without coloring them with judgement. Like purple and yellow. Like air or earth element. Now I see that the problem might be that in people’s minds ‘feminine’ is linked to women and ‘masculine’ to men. No doubt that queer people often hate all this tantric “polarity” talk 🙂
But The New Tantra is very queer in a way. Polarity is sexy, but reverse polarity is as sexy. Women expressing their “masculine” sides and men playing with “feminine” sides – all to grow even more powerful as human beings. Men being together with men, women with women, if it feels right, sexual identities being very fluid in this sense.
I still use those concepts (masculine, feminine), I like using them, but sometimes I consider finding new words – just to avoid unnecessary, long explanations.
I am interested in sexuality/sensuality as communication – a practice potentially much broader than what happens isolated between romantic partners/lovers.
Gender Identity and Feminism(s)
My experience was that topics like gender identity, transsexualism and feminism were hot subjects amongst the youth in Swedish gymnasium. It stroke me also how determined some female teenagers talk about feminism. That made me initially think two things: 1. there must me plenty of different schools of feminism, they keep multiplying and there’s so little I know about this complexity 2. those girls seemed to have an uncompromising belief in the importance of this “fight for female rights” and strong idea about commonly repeated issues like even salaries, equal access to various resources, right to abortion, etc. Then I started to ask about definitions, weaving in various “why’s?”.
My spontaneous concern was also: “poor men amongst those strong women equipped with unquestionable historical arguments and often with better abilities to express their emotions and opinions. Who is fighting for your rights, men?”.
I’ve been also wondering how men and women can cooperate, so that they become stronger together. What would be their common fight?
And am I a feminist myself? And if yes, what is MY feminism?
When I was young, I called myself a feminist – as every intelligent, aware, modern girl should – I thought 🙂
From the today’s perspective, that movement and belief system was built very much on opposition. Us against them. Who’s winning the battle, baby?
Porn can be destructive for learning real intimacy and deep sexuality – I’ve often heard.
But certain schools of feminism (“I have my clit and don’t need a man”) can no less than that contribute to unnecessary separation between men and women.
One book during the Academy started as a single-use reference to a question, and ended up as a recurring foundation for many existential debates, its fragments being read in various corners, its pages were flipped through by many curious hands. “Vagina” by Naomi Wolf the book was… I want to share some quotes.
(quotes from “Vagina“).
It took me years of search and trial and confusion to come a bit closer to understanding where the real women’s power lies. In my world, of course, let me share about MY PERSONAL FEMINISM…
Since tantra entered into my life some years ago, standing in opposition to men was suddenly not longer necessary and not at all in my interest. On the contrary. I have actually never found so much woman-power in me as when being close to men. What an amazing shift, a relief! So yes, I am a feminist and I like male feminists, too, I just need to find my own definition and manifestation of feminism.
“Nuancing” dynamic realities, questioning hard-to-question slogans. Setting free last-described “structures” by creating new narratives.
Embrace complexity, baby!
If you want to read more on love, relationships and sexuality, with new angles, new real stories, 1.5 years later, you’re welcome to land on my post about Labels, Self-Perceptions and (A)Sexuality
<***> know that this sharing is about questions, not answers and is an expression of my own curiosity and a potential debate-starter. It doesn’t present any statistic-based study, but pieces of a complex picture – all gathered, while talking to different people.
THE ART OF… JOB HUNT {DAY 38. – 217.}: wrapping a full process cycle
Everything ‘the Art of…’ is about processes that bring something more than goal-related fruits.
I’d like to share some of those last 180 days of job-searching now that I reached a point of being hired and fired again within 2 weeks’ time.
What I’ve learned about myself and… the job market
I have not learned so much about the job market. For me it has been more of a black box.
There is something non-sustainable (energy-wasting) about job market, I feel, if:
-one is not invited to many job interviews without really knowing why
(no resources for individual feedback? – I understand. But if I at least could learn from those rejections: a wrong school? Lack of similar job experience? Because I’m not a Dane? Cause I haven’t had a stable full-time job for the last years? Or I don’t know anyone in a company? My CV being in English? Because they don’t really read my application? Me being good, but others are even more fitting?)
-there are sometimes 500 candidates per position
–I think a job-searching process should be skill- and power-developing if it takes so much time and energy. But I feel I’ve been mainly creating texts for evaluation!
That I have learned about my job-application strategies:
(this I heard from those who really read my CV and application – and I don’t know the real percentage of those)
-my profile is very rich and interesting
-from such a profile, I need to create at least 3 different CVs, more target group-oriented:
one IT (and IT-related projects), one education/workshops/events, one creative (art, culture, research)
OK, this and a CV på dansk, right? it is slowly coming, in reasonable bits through my resistance towards – again – creating so much text for evaluation.
My Danish, my accent, my polishness…
A couple of times, I heard that I can easily be an asset without perfect Danish – even in education, as – because of my background, personality and accent – students might listen even more.
A couple of times, I heard that my accent can be an obstacle: e.g. in a role of #1) a street interviewer in Roskilde or #2) a support/company to a blind, handicapped man.
It seems (I heard) that could have something to do with #1) provincial vs international environments and #2) some people are vulnerable and they need someone “familiar” around
If I accept such explanations (of stereotypes towards foreigners), I will myself be creating stereotypes about certain people and their reactions/decisions…and this I don’t want to feed.
So in this way, I prefer an open-mind in dealing with a black-box, than “knowing” by putting people in a white-box.
What I’ve experienced/gained while trying to experience finding a job
In November and December. I kept rolling the ball I have started many weeks before when I tried to create a new job role myself, my unique package kit: a potential “performer/educator/interviewer” job in collaboration with Roskilde Kommune with an aim of inspiring and educating people to sort garbage (communication and presentation of myself with that angle is part of this blog post).
Another parallel effort was en experiment of “giving it all” to an application for a job I really wanted (going deep instead of wide). The position of Udeskolevejleder in Boserupgård Naturcenter in Roskilde. I wrote a perfect application – that I also “reused” as a base for one of my profiles (in my virtual CV) – including visual part, including calling the center’s leader beforehand, including a trip to the forest and connecting face-to-face with the team there, including calling the same leader after not getting a job for getting a constructive feedback. This application took the most time in my job-searching career.
After Christmas in Gdynia and New Years in my beautiful Polish mountains, I had some tough winter weeks, where my mind was so obsessed with finding a job + negative thoughts that I couldn’t relax walking through a park. The process was tough and fruitless.
I also received a reply to my application from Københavns Universitet:
“Kære Iwona Rejmus
Tak for din ansøgning til stillingen som Kontorfunktionær.
Vi beklager at måtte meddele, at vi ikke finder dig kvalificeret til stillingen.
Ved udvælgelsen af kandidater er der lagt vægt på indgående kendskab til universitetsverden og erfaring med engelsk som primære arbejdssprog samt professionelt kendskab til design, sociale medier og internationale relationer. Sluttelig var kandidatens personlighed udslagsgivende for at få tilbudt stillingen.“
As they argue, they put special focus on certain skills, therefore they didn’t find me qualified for the position. Hello, but all those skills/experience you need are precisely what I am and can! So either I don’t communicate what I can clearly, or you don’t read what I communicate.
Then when I realized I was one day too late for an important application deadline – hinted by a friend – and I normally keep deadlines – I felt it’s enough and time for a new chapter. I will not send applications, I will only network and meet companies/organizations face-to-face.
I took a bike, my job-searching kit (CVs, motivation letters, a city map and QR stickers – also on my chest) and spent a day visiting kulturhuse and ‘områdefornyelse’ places in Copenhagen. Even though I didn’t find a job, connecting with real people face-to-face gave me so much energy, motivation and (mutual) inspiration.
I knew that no matter how my situation looks after Sisters Academy (Feb-March 2016) – my last planned project on the horizont – I will continue with such a campaign.
Around that time, some new discovery (-> decision) also happened. I realized that all those years of unemployment I have been using actively for developing myself and sharing my treasures with other people, creating value, just not being paid for that. Maybe my way is to become a helper for handicapped people, while I continue doing what I am doing. This new turn on my journey unexpectedly gave me relief and inner peace.
What I’ve been working with for the last years and am not gonna stop…
I work with sharing knowledge and skills by injecting my energies in different contexts, a practice that I call Portable Door (Labs): performative education, co-creation events, self-developing workshops (towards authentic communication and against stereotypes):
100 faces of ‘each other’: workshop designer and space leader
Sisters Academy: teacher, performer, researcher for innovative education
Authentic Relating Denmark: workshop designer and festival co-creator
Menneskebiblioteket: a “book” in the Human Library
Huskunstnerordningen: week-long performative teacher at Danish schools (folkeskoler)
What I want from the process now, dreams and realities…
I was hired as a helper for a handicapped woman, but it was a chaotic and unstable start and had to stop, now I am soon visiting another potential family…and meanwhile I will keep searching for a job in a company/organization. I feel that a full cycle of job searching has been experienced. I’ve learned a lot. I am grateful. I am hopeful. Ready to start from scratch if needed, alternative ways of employment – even internship in the beginning. Handicaphjælper, yes, but not too long, as I cannot isolate myself from the job market. My final goal is to find a meaningful job, improving Danish, working as part of a team.
Thank you for all the help and inspiration to those that contributed to my job-searching journey until now. I needed to look back, evaluate, share before I start a new phase with fresh energy…
Passioneret Interaktiv Performer, Oplevelsesdesigner og Guide
It’s about storytelling, setting immersive rules of the game, ”contageous” networking, technology and experience economy
Min passion for mennesker, kultur og oplevelsesøkonomi kombineres med dobbel uddannelse i Sociologi og IT, samt mange års praksis med at skabe performances, immersive fiktive universer og selv-udviklings processer
* Ekstrovert, modig, velorienteret og vant til at interagere med forskellige folk og optræde
* Taler flydende dansk, engelsk og polsk
* Selvkørende, dygtig til at kommunikere gennem forskellige kanaler og ‘smitte’ med god energi
Jeg elsker spændende og selv-udviklende oplevelser samt projekter/virksomheder som fremmer en sund sult efter livet. Jeg vil invitere jer til at læse mellem linjerne inden vi forhåbentligt ses personligt.
Jeg kan tilbyde jer et konkret kompetencemix, der gør mig i stand til at spille en nøglerolle inden for en lang række forskellige områder, hvor oplevelsesøkonomi møder mennesker, web og organisation.
Jeg er i stand til at designe og teste oplevelser for folk, der matcher stil og viden med magi og overraskelse. Jeg er vant til at rejse, optræde, tale flere sprog og som person både er udadvendt, velorienteret og desuden vant til at sætte mig ind i nye områder.
Kapitel 1. Hvilke erfaringer har jeg med oplevelsesøkonomi, udvikling og afholdelse af interaktive events?
Jeg har mange års erfaring med interaktiv, immersiv performance kunst, undervisningsforløb og events, hvor vi involverer publikum og giver dem uforglemmelige, transformative oplevelser. Jeg har samtidig været en innovativ forsker, konsulent og koordinator af projekter fokuseret på alternative oplevelser og læringsprocesser. (bl.a. hos Euman, Club de la Faye’s Teaching Unit, Sisters Academy, Menneskebiblioteket og på mine egne workshops 100 faces of ‘each other’).
Jeg er selvkørende, praktisk multitasker i god fysisk form. En hands-on skattejæger, designer og formidler…der også kan konceptualisere fagligt, præsentere, integrere erfaringer i livslang læring.
Jeg er åben for at løbe rundt i skoven i skatte jagt, teste nye teknologier, skabe dans koreografier i det friluft, bungee jumpe, deltage i nøgne tantra workshops, lave mad sammen med lokale folk, med-skabe en performance eller overnatte i laden under et stjerne-ser event.
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Jeg kan bagefter oversætte alle disse oplevelser til komplekse og fascinerende historier og teorier, får folk til at se forbindelser mellem forskellige discipliner, kulturer og filosofier. Og inspirere dem til at forelske sig i eventyr og til at være en bevidst skaberen af mans egne livsoplevelser.
Kapitel 2. Hvordan jeg oplever, kommunikerer og reflekterer
Jeg elsker at “plante frø” og tænke strategisk uanset om jeg interagerer med mennesker, spreder ordet, dokumenterer eller kommunikerer aktiviteter. For mig ingen oplevelse er kun det.
Jeg har deltaget i og med-skabt mange arrangementer, hvor jeg kunne bruge min unik evne til at udvide almindelig viden med nye perspektiver, oversætte fra tantra- til business-sprog eller fremme en velgørenheds kampagne ved brug af performance og ritualer.
‘in 100 years’ var en serie af konferencer/futuristisk forskning “klædt” i fiktiv performance paraply hvor erhvervslivet, den akademiske verden og kunst delte et fælles mål at gå ud over rationel tankegang og gamle paradigmer. Ved at udforske mere kreative, visionære måder at tackle bæredygtigheden på forskellige niveauer: miljø, relationer mellem mennesker og nye teknologier.
Hos IBIS, vores mål med ‘jeg er Yasuni’ kampagnen var at formidle et stærkt budskab, hvor vores målgruppe (folk der underskriver et andragende, spreder ordet eller bidrager med penge) identificerer sig med og lære af naturen og oprindelige folk. I at skabe involverende læringsprocesser, tror jeg på samspillet mellem forskellige discipliner og den æstetiske en eksperimenterende tilgang til oplevelser. Derfor er jeg en stor fan af performative og rituelle elementer sammenvævet i stærke videnskabelige argumenter.
Andre arrangementer:
- Menneskebiblioteket som en del af ‘Gør en forskel’ dage i Ørestads Gymnasium 2015.
- Club de la Faye tilføjede immersiv fiktive univers til almindelige koncertarrangementer på Copenhagen Jazz House 2009.
- Små projekter under større events: Copenhagen Burlesque, Borderland (Burning Man), Roskilde Festival.
Kapitel 3: Hvilke ydeligere kompetencer kan jeg tilbyde for at berige virksomheden?
Udover at være en god oplevelsesdesigner/guide, kan jeg desuden fremadrettet også byde på flere ting, som kan være med til at videreudvikle virksomheden:
Som en erfaren performance-kunstner, kulturarbejder og it-uddannet, har jeg specialiseret mig i brugeroplevelser, interaktion og facilitering af udviklingsprocesser. Dvs. at jeg både kan:
*udvikle hjemmesider – herunder tænke i retning af gamification, integration med sociale medier samt andet, der både kan tiltrække og fastholde nye kunder
*bidrage til forretningsudviklingen – f.eks. baseret på input og involvering af alt fra kunder til faste samarbejdspartnere, men også af helt nye og gerne anderledes aktører. Med min særlige baggrund har jeg et bredt netværk i både kunst- og it-verdenen, som jeg selvfølgelig meget gerne vil sætte i spil.
*globalisere i praksis – bl.a. ved at tænke i markedsføring og partnerskaber internationalt. Jeg har selv baggrund fra både Danmark, Polen, Canada og Storbritannien og ser kun gode grunde til at arbejde globalt helt fra starten
Hvis I er interesseret i frisk energi, innovativ tilgang, sans for mennesker og en masse hjerte, vil oplevelsestester positionen være i gode hænder. Jeg vil være glad for at kunne mødes med jer personligt for at præsentere endnu flere sider af mig selv og brainstorme sammen med jer om, hvordan jeg allerbedst kan bidrage hos jer. I mellemtiden opfordrer jeg jer at se to hurtigt lavede videoer og en film (klik på links):
…hvor jeg guider jer igennem en dag i mit liv
…hvor jeg bruger elementer af performance og ritual til at smitte folk med gode værdier
…hvor min performance gruppe laver vores sidste stor produktion i Bremen
Kærlige hilsner,
Iwona Helena Rejmus
* Richness of my background *
My Danish is not perfect…yet. I have a very unique profile and rich, international experience. On top of knowledge from various segments of Danish society, I carry stories from other cultures that I can integrate in my everyday work. Not all people – I’ve discovered – know for example that the II World War started in Gdańsk, where I come from. If Go Dream embraces diversity, we can cooperate and do something valuable together. I asked a couple of people to correct some major mistakes, so you get even a better (love)letter/application. Every time there is less and less to correct. I gave them a massage in return. A gift economy that I practice parallel to money-driven economy. Cause they are not contradictory, but complementary. I also teach it in relation to sustainability. And I try to walk my talk…
‘Imod diskrimination og fordomme’ som en del af CSR strategi?
Kampagner, foreninger eller socio-økonomiske virksomheder ligesom Gadens Stemmer, Menneskebiblioteket, Other Story arbejder på at gå imod fordomme i samfundet ved at facilitere face-to-face møder mellem virkelige mennesker. Ikke kun for at lave om på eksisterende forstillinger, stereotyper, definitioner, men også for at give en oplevelses ramme hvor mennesker kan øve empati for anderledes livstil og perspektiver, udvide sig selv ved brug af ‘the Other’.* Verden kan blive lidt større for dem som er nysgerrige og stiller spørgsmål til hvad de allerede ved.
Sådan tilgang heldigvis anerkendes og spredes i form af kampagner på sociale medier, ved initiativer rettede mod at øge global bevistheden og mangfoldighed, mod at forstå kompleksistet i stedet for simplificeringer og gennemsnitlige data.
Sådanne initiativer er mere og mere populære i kultur liv og som en del af uddannelse i folkeskoler og gymnasier.
Købehavns kommunens beskeftigelses- og integrations- forvaltningen som det offentlige, mange i det private sektor, NGOer samt ‘free riders’ ambassadører arbejde på at mindske discrimination. (At liste dem er dog ikke et fokus i den post)
Hvad med at inkludere initiativer/oplevelser ‘imod fordomme’ i CSR manifesten? For at forstyrke en virksomheds CSR profil ved ikke kun at passe miljøet og fremme grøn design, men ved at arrangere sådanne autentiske møder mellem forskellige mennesker. For at lade ansatte bedre forstå:
- bredere perspektiv i hvordan deres produkter/ydelser kan positivt påvirke andre end kun mål gruppen
- forskellige kunder og stakeholders
- andres perspektiver og interesser, endnu i et team som består af forskellige roler og kompetencer
- hvad er virkelig team-building og fælles- som personligt ejerskab af brand og ansvarlighed for selv, andre og global market
…Og for at inspirere kunder, samarbejdspartnere og andre som identificerer sig selv med det brand, til sådan ansvarlighed og værdier.
*ved ‘the Other’ mener jeg alle de folk/grupper som er udenfor vores forstålige kredser/normer/tilhørsforhold.