DOING THE PRIVILEGE WALK IN THE OUTDOOR ADVENTURE COMMUNITY By Aimee Frazier and Thomas Doherty
A
s a Mazama member, I have followed the dialog on our organization’s Route Ahead from a unique perspective. My work as a psychologist has focused on studying people’s relationship with nature and the outdoors; this interest has led me to train counselors in taking therapy out of doors, which has in turn brought up questions about obstacles to access. Aimee Frazier, in training to become a licensed counselor, brought my attention to a thought-provoking training she recently conducted for the Association for Experiential Education. I believe her account below canhelp guide discussions about our sense of identity and purpose. I hope you give this exercise a try, and find it enlightening. Personally, while I did not grow up with access to mountains, I was lucky enough to know people who could take me up peaks like Mt. Rainier, despite my limited experience, and keep me safe – and I always felt fully accepted in the outdoors. My privilege walk into the outdoors, in other words, was more like a run. What has yours been like? --Thomas Doherty The outdoor adventure community has historically lacked inclusivity, catering access to outdoor adventurebased experiences to white, middle- and upper-class men who are able-bodied. This exclusivity has left out people from a variety of diverse backgrounds, body types, and identities, making the outdoors feel unapproachable or unsafe for many. Privilege is defined as “Unearned access or advantages granted to specific groups of people because of their membership in a social group.". One tangible way of recognizing privilege is an experiential exercise called a Privilege Walk. The purpose of this activity is to expand awareness of one’s own privileges or lack thereof, and gain insight into the different experiences between individuals. This idea originated from the work of Peggy McIntosh, who wrote White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. In her work, McIntosh describes privilege and defines many of the unearned benefits that white individuals typically take for granted, that people from other racial backgrounds do not have. 36 MAZAMAS
The Privilege Walk is typically an eye-opening experience for those from privileged backgrounds, as individuals come face to face with other people in their community who have had vastly different experiences based on parts of their personal identities. I most recently led this experience with outdoor-based experiential educators and therapists. Thirty-four participants from a variety of backgrounds signed up for an experiential workshop on the topic of inclusion and social justice in the outdoors. The group lined up, standing side by side, in a large field, all facing forward, where I stood in front of the group. I described the purpose of the exercise: to better understand our levels of privilege in the context of the outdoor adventure field. I let participants know that they had a choice to participate or observe and that they were never obligated to answer any questions. With that, we began. I read the first statement. “Take a step forward if you grew up in a home where your parents or guardians took you outdoors during your childhood.” Most participants stepped forward. Some did not. The statements continued from a more generalized perspective and progressed toward more personal experiences. “Take a step forward if you had access to safe parks, trails, or outdoor recreation areas during your childhood.” “Take a step forward if you have always felt welcome by other people and organizations in the outdoor setting.” Many stood still. Participants looked to
their left and right, toward the individuals they knew and cared for. Having learned of their experiences of exclusion, their faces revealed a variety of emotions. “Take a step forward if you have felt fully comfortable and widely accepted by others in the outdoor adventure field based on your racial background, cultural identity, socioeconomic status, ability level, sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex.” Many did not step forward. Their stillness represented the lack of safety, acceptance, and inclusion they had experienced. I watched individuals silently wipe tears away as they acknowledged and witnessed the representation of deeply personal wounds within their community of peers and colleagues. Following the last statement, the participants paused to take inventory of their place in the now-dispersed line of participants. Some individuals stood near the starting line, indicating a lack of privilege, while others were much further ahead—indicating a wide gap of privilege within the outdoor adventure community. In the debrief, we talked about what it was like to see privilege dispersed unequally through the community. Those who had more privilege shared their mixed emotions. Those who had less privilege shared what it was like to have their reality witnessed by peers. Some chose to share their personal stories of not having access to the outdoors during childhood or finding the outdoor adventure field to not be inclusive of “people like me.” It was a moving experience that