The Ask. Ponder. Educate. [X]. event on Feb. 15 featured Lisa Diamond, a professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah. Her presentation was titled “Social Safety and Human Thriving Across the Spectrum of Sexual and Gender Diversity.”
Diamond explained that stress has been around since the beginning of human history. Primal ancestors had stresses that look different than the ones we deal with today; however, stress was still a dominant force in everyone’s life nonetheless.
People who belong to a minority tend to be more stressed than others because they don’t feel like they have social safety. At times, they feel misplaced and don’t feel accepted.
When you are a part of a minority group, you don’t know what you will experience going out into the world. In many cases, you may feel like the odd one out, and you never know if certain groups of people will accept you.
“Every day is a little bit unpredictable,” said Diamond.
Social safety is having a group to go to or one that sees who you are. Knowing you are not alone ties into our primal ancestors – you feel safe.
Diamond said, “We all need unconditional protection and connection from people around us.”
She explained that stress is something everyone experiences, saying, “Each experience of stress has a toll on us. Too much stress is bad for us, like a car breaking down.”
When we surround ourselves with other people who love and accept us, our stress levels decrease.
“[Other people are] a cue to our nervous system that we will be okay,” said Diamond. “We need to spend more time together and with individuals who validate us.”
Diamond then explained the concept of resilience, which is a state of having high access to social safety. That way, when you’re stressed, you have a group to go to.
People can provide social safety in many different ways. Smiling at someone, asking if someone needs help, listening to people — the list goes on and on.
Diamond told the audience, “Go out into the dangerous world and come back to your campfire.” The campfire in this analogy represents where you feel the most understood and feel socially safe.
The next A.P.E.X. event will take place on March 7. The guest speaker will be Meghan Chayka with a presentation called “Sports Analytics: Scaling a Data Company.” For information on the A.P.E.X. speaker series, visit its website.
Author: Christina Schweiss
Photos:
Editor: Nick Stein
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