What value, perspective or concern would you like to become visible in writing studies?

This may sound strange but the value I would like to see become more visible/prized would be that of understanding of and by the white male. I think marginalized people sometimes simultaneously underestimate how deeply toxic masculinity runs through white-male culture as well as how that same toxic masculinity does not define the individual white male, despite appearances to the contrary. I prioritize understanding for the white male as a member of a group that has been indoctrinated since birth to have a self-centered worldview and as such changes in that worldview that marginalized people wish would be instantaneous are a delayed process.

In “Becoming Visible: Lessons in Disability” I found the section that talked about the gender split in a University of Arizona classroom in terms of reactions to a graphic storytelling of one woman’s life with MS particularly fascinating in this regard. The majority of the males in the classroom initially had a visceral, negative reaction to descriptions of the daily struggles but weeks later when asked to write a paper about the story their attitudes shifted from disgust and outrage to something more along the lines of understanding. I believe that, along with reasons stated in the article, males are to some degree trained to hate/fear weakness whether it be internal or external from an early age and overcoming this training or at the very least understanding it is not an easy process.

So often in our impatient, instant gratification culture we expect change to happen almost instantaneously, whether it be our arguments against an opposition or otherwise as if a particular story could act like some cleaner we see on a TV commercial, wiping away the filth just like that. The truth is that just like chemical cleaners arguments and stories need time to sit, or to use other metaphors—to germinate, to digest—before we can expect them to work and when endeavoring for change understanding that processes are just that—processes is crucial if we are to ever bridge the divides that separate us…