privacy, identity, and reflexivity

BPenuel who-is-at aol.com
Wed, 15 Nov 1995 09:50:02 -0500

The private/public divide, as Edouard points out, is
not an unproblematical one, and as Jay writes, it
has several levels, including all sorts of meso-private
knowledge that is important to being a legitimate
peripheral participant in any practice.

Concern for the privacy of Others, as well as regard
for how others who read one's reflexive self-position-
ing, is, I think, not an isolated professional concern,
but fundamentally something to do with _identity_.
And for many groups, it's not so much an issue of
"right to know" but a sense of responsibility to
Others.

For me to come out, for example, as a bisexual
academic, is not only to self-disclose a part of
my "private" life in a professional setting; it is
to invite others who may fear that they are not
"legitimate participants" in a discourse to
re-consider, to recognize in mine or other
out academics a voice that they can feel shares in
some of their own experiences and perspectives.

Absolutely, others may position me in ways that
could be demeaning or damaging, but the price
is often less than helping others feel a little
less isolated. My own experience in academia
has supported me in this regard, and others
who are less comfortable being "out" have
always been privately supportive.

Bill Penuel
_____________________
PreventionInventions
139 Holly Forest
Nashville, TN 37221
(615) 646-9682