For my
project I chose to Spectrum to follow for the semester and learn more about
relating to intercultural communication. In my introductory blog I stated my
concept that I would use for Spectrum and that was sexual identity. Sexual
identity is one’s identification with various categories of sexuality
(Martin/Nakayama 188). I first realized this group would be good to study for
the semester because they did not follow social norms like most students on
campus, they are different. I soon realized I would be using qualitative method
and participant observation to learn more about the group and its members. I
planned to attend a few of their weekly meetings and set up interviews. I was
very excited to meet some of the members and how they have dealt with their
sexual identity and how Spectrum may help them with this.
My
application blog took into account the first meeting I attended and the
interview I had with the president of Spectrum, Sam Zeitner. I could tell from
when I first walked in that they were a very tightknit group of people and
shared a lot of common interests. Although they all knew each other they went
around and introduced themselves just in case any new members were joining
them. During the meeting they played a “gay jeopardy game” where I learned a
lot more about the LGBTQA community. It was clear that some people were very
informative on all aspects of sexual orientation while some were shyer and were
there to learn more about it. Overall this first meeting was a great insight on
what I would see throughout the whole semester. My meeting with Zeitner also
gave me a lot of background knowledge on the group and the president himself.
Culture is
defined as learned patterns of behavior and attitudes shared by a group people
(Martin/Nakayama 88). Spectrum is made up people who have a few different
sexual orientations but they do share many of the same behaviors and attitudes.
I believe Spectrum is a cultural group because even though there may be
discrepancies in who they are sexually attracted to or what gender they
identify with they, they do not follow the social norm. Since the members are
see themselves as different from the majority of the population on campus they
tend to be very similar, especially in beliefs. I chose this cultural group to
study for a few different reasons. I have not heard or seen anything on campus
about a LGBTQA group, I have many gay and lesbians friends and I thought I
could tie the group to many concepts we have learned in this class. I identify
with them because I know many people that identify with the community but I
also wanted to learn more and see what this group is doing on our campus.
One
concept that I believe all the members of Spectrum go through on a daily basis
is code switching. Code switching is a communication term where a person
changes their languages, dialects or accent depending on who or where they are
speaking. Through sitting in on meetings it was clear from the beginning that
members were able to change the way they spoke once they walked into the room
because they felt comfortable with these people. “That is way too gay, even for
me,” a member said during a meeting. Using slang like this may be uncomfortable
or even inappropriate when speaking to someone out of the group but it was
fully accepted during the meeting. “I like that everyone can feel comfortable
here. I will admit I talk and act differently on campus than in this room,”
Zeitner. As I observed a few of Spectrums meetings I even recognized I did not
understand some of the slang use, people talked about or subjects in general.
This made me reflect on my own speaking habits and how I change how I speak
depending on who I’m talking to and where I am.
Minority
identity development was something I got to hear a lot more of through my
interviews with the members. The four stages of this development is unexamined
identity, conformity, resistance and separatism, and integration. Unexamined
identity is when a person is lacking exploration into their own identity and
just accepts the majority. Many of the members spent most of their live either
denying they were different or being unable to understand their identity. “I
didn’t know how to voice how I felt, and back in my home town I was too shy to
do so anyways,” Zeitner. During meetings they spoke on how most of them grew up
in houses where being straight was the only way they learned and it wasn’t an
option to be anything else. Given this idea from birth, it took many of them
most of their life before they could identify with their true sexuality. The
next step, conformity, is when a person assimilates with the dominant group and
grows negative feelings toward themselves.
I believe this is a step everyone goes through, whether you’re in the
minority group or not. Many of the members made fun or their high school selves
for pretending to be something they are not just to fit in with the “cool
crowd.” High school is a hard time where everyone wants to be accepted and that
is why most people give into conformity. But then something changes.
The next step in the development is
resistance and separatism. This is when a person ultimately rejects the
dominant group whether it is because of a negative event or awareness of their
own values. This also may happen when an individual who has been denying their
identity meets someone from that group who exhibits a strong identity
(Martin/Nakayama 182). This stage happened for a lot of the members as well as
both my interviewees, Sam and Annie, when they arrived on campus. When they
were able to leave their traditional hometowns and high schools and arrive on a
more diverse campus they were able to express themselves more. When they found
Spectrum they were able to find their true identity and share it with people
who were like them. “Finding this group of people introduced me to a whole
world and group of people I never knew about. It was my comfortable place,” a
member said. The last stage is integration where a person has fully achieved
their identity in the minority group. In this stage they realize they are the
minority but has figured out how to deal with it. They are happy they know who
they are and where they fit in and they are more secure with themselves than
ever. Becoming a regular part of Spectrum has allowed many of these members to
reach this step. Although most are very secure with their sexual identity it
was clear that some of the newer members were just starting this step. “Sam and
I are very definite and knowledgeable on our sexual identity and the LGBTQA
community in general. We are leaders of this group to help others figure out
their identity and if we can help them,” Annie said. This is such an
accomplishment to reach this point and feel comfortable in your sexual
identity. It made me happy as an observer to see this reach stepped in many of
the members.
This
project really showed me how having a group of people who are similar to you in
their beliefs and values really helps communication. I think it is important to
have good intercultural communication to help understand people who are different
from us. Although I was tied in a way to this group and the LGBTQA community
this process really opened my eyes to all the components of understanding ones
identity. Meetings helped me see them interact together as a group but the
interviews really helped me learn specific stories about people on campus.
Martin, Judith
N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts.
Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print.
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