5. Case Example: Trading Places

The aim of this section is to consider the possibility of changing societal norms around gender and sexuality. 

The following vignette shows a conversation between two colleagues. As you watch the video, you are encouraged to reflect on existing societal and cultural norms around gender and sexuality, and consider how perspectives shift as the colleagues talk to each other. Reflective questions are provided below the video.

(To read along click here.)

Optional: In the following video, Brian McNaught uses visual aids to help us experience the perspective of growing up heterosexual in a homosexual world.

It requires a real effort to pretend that the world would be this way. If we can imagine, even a little bit, how painful it is for someone to feel that something is fundamentally wrong with them or that they are not accepted in society, we can begin to empathize with people in their struggles, even if we don’t share those same struggles.