An LGBTIQ History: Part 1
The first of a four-part of an extensive LGBTIQ history from before the common era to the present.
An LGBTIQ History: Part 2
The second of a four-part of an extensive LGBTIQ history from before the common era to the present.
An LGBTIQ History: Part 3
The first of a four-part of an extensive LGBTIQ history from before the common era to the present.
An LGBTIQ History: Part 4
The second of a four-part of an extensive LGBTIQ history from before the common era to the present.
LGBT People under the Nazi Regime
This unique presentation investigates the life and times of LGBT people leading up to and under the Nazi regime. It is a story of Surveillance, Interrogation, Censorship, Incarceration, Brutalization, Mutilation, Murder, but it is also a story of Resistance and Resiliency of the human spirit.
Heterosexism and Anti-Jewish Oppression: Making the Links
Throughout history, many dominant groups have depicted or represented minoritized groups in a variety of negative ways in order to maintain control or mastery. The representation of targeted groups is expressed through myths and stereotypes in proverbs, social commentary, literature, jokes, epithets, pictorial depictions, and other cultural forms. This presentation makes the clear and stunning connections between historical representations of Jewish people and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans* (LGBT) people.
Examining Heterosexual and Cisgender Privilege
Based on Peggy McIntosh’s (1988) pioneering investigations of white and male privilege, we can, by analogy, understand heterosexual and cisgender privilege as constituting a seemingly invisible, unearned, and largely unacknowledged array of benefits accorded to heterosexuals and cisgender people with which they often unconsciously walk through life as if effortlessly carrying knapsacks tossed over their shoulders. This presentation examines the contents of these knapsacks.
On the Social Construction of Homosexuality and Trans Identities as Deviancy & Disease
Rather than considering homosexuality, bisexuality, and gender non-conformity merely as emotional, gender, and sexual differences along a broad spectrum of human potential, some sectors of the medical and psychological communities force pathologizing language onto people with same-sex and both-sex attractions, and those who cross traditional constructions of gender identities and expression. This presentation investigates the history of the “medicalization” of LGBT people from without, and the struggles to reclaim the liberty of self defining themselves from within.
Immigration as “Racial” Policy
Though politicians and members of their constituencies argue immigration policy from seemingly infinite perspectives and sides, one point stands clear and definite: decisions as to who can enter the United States and who can eventually gain citizenship status generally depends of issues of “race,” for U.S. immigration systems reflect and serve as the country’s official “racial” policies.
The Social Construction of “Race”
This presentation investigates how notion of “race” is socially constructed. It arose concurrently with the advent of European exploration as a justification and rationale for conquest and domination of the globe beginning in the 15th century of the Common Era. Therefore, “race” is an historical, “scientific,” and biological myth. It is an idea. Geneticists tell us that there is often more variability within a given so-called “race” than between “races,” and that there are no essential genetic markers linked specifically to “race.”
Unpacking Christian Privilege in a Nation Asserting “Religious Pluralism”
By Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld
Christian hegemony I define as the overarching system of advantages bestowed on Christians. It is the institutionalization of a Christian norm or standard, which establishes and perpetuates the notion that all people are or should be Christian, thereby privileging Christians and Christianity, and excluding the needs, concerns, religious cultural practices, and life experiences of people who are not Christian. At times subtle and often overt, Christian hegemony is oppression by neglect, omission, erasure, and distortion, and also by design and intent. This unique slide presentation investigates the concept and realities of Christian privilege.
Conversion, Expulsion, Extermination: A History of Anti-Jewish Oppression – Part 1
by Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld
Throughout the ages, a recurring cycle has developed against the Jewish people: from Conversion (you can’t live among us as Jews), to Expulsion (you can’t live among us), to Extermination (you can’t live). This unique PowerPoint presentation investigates the long history of anti-Jewish oppression and some of the reasons for its formation and perpetuation.
Conversion, Expulsion, Extermination: A History of Anti-Jewish Oppression – Part 2
by Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld
Throughout the ages, a recurring cycle has developed against the Jewish people: from Conversion (you can’t live among us as Jews), to Expulsion (you can’t live among us), to Extermination (you can’t live). This unique PowerPoint presentation investigates the long history of anti-Jewish oppression and some of the reasons for its formation and perpetuation.
Religious Texts Used to Justify Persecution
This presentation is intended to highlight a number of texts from three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), which individuals and organizations throughout the ages have employed to justify and rationalize the marginalization, harassment, denial of rights, persecution, and oppression of entire groups of people based on their social identities.
Social Contexts of Youth Bullying
This presentation addresses how bullying and harassment are not simply youth problems and behaviors, but rather, it looks at the ways that young people often acquire bullying and harassing attitudes and behaviors from the larger society through process of “social learning.”
The U.S. Culture of Firearms and the New Normal
The U.S. ranks first among 178 countries for the highest per capita rate of firearm ownership. On average, each year firearms account for approximately 11,000 homicides, another 22,000 suicides and accidental deaths, and many more injuries. In the wake of these fatalities and high-visibility mass shootings, a very contentious debate has continued in the U.S. regarding the role and future of firearms. This unique PowerPoint presentation addresses many of the concerns and suggests practical solutions.
Remembrance, Rescue, and Recovery: Going Home to Poland
This presentation traces the journey of Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld who traveled back to his ancestral home of Krosno, Poland to conduct genealogy and Holocaust research, and in doing so, he returned home to a place he had never been before.
Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld is author of Warren’s Words: Smart Commentary on Social Justice (Purple Press); editor of Homophobia: How We All Pay the Price (Beacon Press), co-editor of Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (Routledge) and Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States (Sense), and co-author of Looking at Gay and Lesbian Life (Beacon Press).
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